


It Takes A Village (A Very Destiel Christmas Story)

by MarmeLady_Orange



Category: Supernatural
Genre: 25 chapters until Christmas, Car Accident, Castiel kisses people, Christmas Fluff, Come Eating, Dean is Bad at Feelings, Drunk Castiel, Everybody Ships Them, Excessive Drinking, Exhibitionism, Fluff, Gay Panic, Grumpy Dean, Happy Ending, Homophobic Language, Hungover Dean, IT'S CHRISTMAS DANG IT, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Masturbation, Masturbation in Shower, No phone, No wi-fi, Not a dream, Not djinn, Not really a blow-job but it’ll do, Others just shouldn't be there, Penises, People are back from the dead, Protective Dean Winchester, Sassy Castiel, Sharing a Bed, Slow Burn, Slow Dancing, Spoilers, Stranded, Voyeurism, additional tags to be added as the story progresses, forced vacation, magical village, minimal angst, season 13, snowstorm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-09 08:33:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 35,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12884049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarmeLady_Orange/pseuds/MarmeLady_Orange
Summary: Driving back to the bunker, Dean and Castiel get hit by a freak storm and crash the Impala. When they wake up, it’s in a town they didn’t know existed and stuck under a blanket of snow. If all communication means being down and Baby being out of commission weren’t enough, they also have to deal with every single villager looking like people Dean knows… or once knew.Note: Let’s just imagine Asmodeus has already been dealt with and that both Jack and Castiel are back at the bunker after being found and rescued by the brothers.





	1. The Storm

**Author's Note:**

> Yesterday, I thought of this… yesterday, as in November 30th. To be honest, I’d been thinking of this for about a week, not knowing when I’d be starting on it. Then yesterday, I had the urge of making it a "25 days 'til Xmas" type of thing. So, there I am, with a single chapter written (although the second one is pretty much done by now), and I’m challenging myself to give you one chapter a day until Christmas.
> 
> I just crashed and burned my NaNoWriMo, how in the hell am I going to make THIS happen? I guess we’ll see, won’t we?
> 
> I cannot promise I will not miss a day or two (although I really don’t want to miss a single day), but what I can promise is that this story, it’s gonna be as fluffy as a fresh blanket of snow. (huh… just… warm… like a blanket… not cold as snow… and fluffy… how about a blanket of marshmallow? That sounds AWESOME!)

_ _

 

_**Painting:** "Un dimanche après-midi aux Éboulements" (A Sunday afternoon at the Éboulements) by Paul Tex Lecor. _

The painting I used in the title card above is by one of my favorite painters who passed away last September.   
I found the image on Google, but you can click [here](http://www.texlecor.com/) to go to the artist’s webpage (it’s in French so if you want to see other paintings (some are NSFW), click [here](http://multi-art.net/protected/Lecor/page1.html)).  
The use of Mr. Lecor’s art isn’t meant to be copyright infringement… I made no money here!   
I just love the man’s art and felt this particular piece worked well as a visual setting for this little Destiel Christmas tale.

 

* * * * *

 

Visibility had been close to non-existent since they left Superior, Nebraska. Still, Dean refused to let the weather keep them from driving back home. The exasperated huff that came from the passenger seat caused him to tighten his grip on the steering wheel.

“I told you there’d be a storm,” Castiel said after letting out yet another exasperated breath.

“It’s not my first time driving in the snow, Cas,” Dean spat under his breath, hating that glaring at his friend wasn’t the safest of options right now. “We’ll be home soon, so you know… put a cork in it!”

“You said the same thing over an hour ago. Superior is less than an hour from the bunker.”

Dean clenched his teeth as his knuckles turned white. “I can always make you walk back, if you think it’s gonna be faster,” he said through his teeth. It didn’t matter that both he and Castiel knew it was all but an empty threat.

As if to confirm, Castiel let out a small chuckle. At least he had the decency not to reply with some snarky comment, which Dean appreciated a whole lot. Bickering now would be very ill advised.

It took about half an hour for Castiel’s voice to cut through the tension, this time sounding a bit concerned. “Are you sure we’re going the right way? We’ve been driving for far too long, and we haven’t seen another car in forever.” He leaned forward to squint at the flurry of snowflakes outside. “Are we even on the road anymore?”

“You’re the angel… can’t you tell if we’re on the right path or not?”

“The storm seems to be tampering with my senses a bit. It’s not unheard of,” he added, as if he thought it’d be reassuring.

“We’re going the right way, don’t worry. My internal compass is infallible. We’ll reach the 36 in no time.”

“Not even God is infallible,” Castiel muttered, sadly not low enough for Dean to not hear him.

This time, when he spoke, he dared let his eyes leave the road to glare at the angel. “You know what, Cas? Bite me! You should be glad I’m the one driving through this shit! And, well, it’s your damn fault that we’re here. We just HAD to go to that witchy store today, didn’t we?”

“I could have gone by myself, Dean. You didn’t have to—”

“Everytime you leave on your own, you end up doing something stupid and we have to rescue your sorry ass. Had enough of that shit! You always get caught up with some evil douchebag or go dying on me. I’m not letting you out of my sight again, you hear? Pretty sure that if you—”

“Dean—”

“Not done! If you had—”

“Dean!” Castiel screamed this time, grabbing at the steering wheel with both hands, prompting Dean to look ahead again.

He just had time to see a doe’s panicked gaze glowing in the headlights before the car swerved to the left. With both feet stomping the brake pedal, Dean prayed they wouldn’t be hitting a tree or some poor bastard walking around in the storm.

It didn’t matter that the Impala hadn’t been going that fast, Dean and Castiel were thrown forward when the they hit a snowbank, the car burying itself almost all the way to the windshield.

Dean couldn’t have said for how long he’d lost consciousness, waking up to the sound of the blaring horn. He winced when his fingers found a bloody gash on his forehead, where it had hit the steering wheel. The horn stopped when he pushed himself backward, the howling of the storm the only thing noise surrounding them. Even Baby’s comforting purr couldn’t be heard anymore.

“Cas?” he asked, his eyes still screwed shut. He groaned from the effort it took to open them. Worried for a second he’d gone blind, he blinked a couple of times, clearing up his vision a bit. He kept doing it until his friend’s unmoving form became clearer next to him.

“Cas!” he said again, louder this time. He grabbed the angel’s forearm to shake it. “Wake up, man.”

Once more, time meant nothing as Dean’s gaze stayed on Castiel, searching for any sign of life. He shook the arm some more, the movement not that energetic anymore. Dean’s throat closed up as he fought to keep his eyes open. 

“Cas…” he said one last time as everything went black again.

 

 

_** TO BE CONTINUED… ** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading… I really hope you liked it. I’m sorry, I know it’s isn’t long, but the following ones should be "meatier".
> 
> Please don’t hesitate to share your thoughts, I’d love to read you. See you again tomorrow!


	2. Carmen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a confession to make… this "plot", which I thought of first a week or two ago, I soon realized it ressemble a lot one my favorite Stephen King’s short stories, [_You Know They Got a Hell of a Band_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Know_They_Got_a_Hell_of_a_Band). When I realized this, it deflated me a whole lot. Until I decided to find a way to make it "cute story" rather than a "scary one". And the way I’m planning this story, you can rest assured; it will be its own story, the apparent similar circumstances the only thing tying this to Mr. King’s one.
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Still… kinda sucks that the original idea wasn’t 100% mine. You know, I thought for a second that I had been quite brilliant. HAH! Still, I think there may be enough similarities for someone to see them. So I’m coming clean. I’m aware. And I don’t mind all that much. :D
> 
>  
> 
> This being said, I hope you will like this new chapter. Good news is I’ve written a lot today, so I now have until December 6th in the bank (well, still gotta go over everything again, but still). I’m hoping to write just as much tomorrow… the more I can write in advance, the less stressful it’ll be to be able to gift you with the promised chapters.

 “Castiel!” Dean screamed, startling himself awake. He felt around under the pillow as he sat up, looking for his gun. What he found instead was a piercing headache and a fit of nausea. He groaned and let himself fall backward on the bed, swallowing down his urge to vomit as he tried to assess his surroundings.

First of all, he knew he wasn’t home. Or if he was, it wasn’t in his room with a marvelous memory foam mattress in his back. Images of the angel’s unmoving form flashed behind his eyelids. “Cas?” he croaked again. Castiel had to be close by, Dean had promised himself not to let him out of his sight.

“Here, take these,” he heard a soft feminine voice say. He opened his eyes to see a beautiful brunette handing him a tiny paper cup and a plastic glass. It didn’t matter that she looked kind of familiar, he wasn’t about to take whatever she wanted him to swallow.

“It’s only analgesics and water,” she said when he scowled at the offerings, then at her. “Pretty sure you’re having the mother of all headaches right now.”

Of course, she was right. Didn’t mean it was ever okay to accept candies from strangers.

“I think I’ll pass, thanks!” he said as he sat up again, throwing the blanket away from his body. “Where are my clothes?” he said, hastily pulling down on the hospital gown to hide his exposed crotch.

The nurse put both recipients on the overbed table and walked to the armoire next to the bathroom door. She took out a plastic bag and dropped it on the bed. “Everything you came in with is in there.”

“What about my friend? Where’s Cas?”

The smile she gave him made his heart skip a beat. It felt nice, familiar, yet Dean couldn’t determine how that could be. Maybe he’d met her a long time ago, seduced her… she kinda was his type.

“Well, I can promise you he’s not in this bag.” When her quip only made Dean’s glare intensify, the nurse shrugged. “Your friend’s in the next room. You both were real lucky, if you ask me.”

_ Nobody’s asking you, _ Dean almost said, hating the tiny guilt the snide thought brought on.

“I gotta see him. He’s okay, right?”

“He’ll be just fine, just a bit of cuts and bruises. If Bobby hadn’t found you when he did, you might not have made it at all. What the hell were you doing out in that storm anyway?”

“Had to get back home,” Dean said, flinging his legs to the side. He grabbed the bag to rummage through it, fishing out his underwear. He looked up at her, quirking a single eyebrow. “Well… are you gonna stay there and look at me as I get dressed or…?”

The nurse chuckled. “Would you prefer that I turned around?”

And because he could never hold himself back, Dean gave the woman a wink and a brow waggle. “It’s up to you, sweetheart. I don’t mind all that much, to be honest,” he said as got off the bed to put the underwear on, not bothering to hide anything from the nurse’s eyes. Seeing her blush and turn around made him chuckle.  _ Oh yeah, I still got it! _

“So… what the hell’s this place? I’m not back in Superior, am I?” he asked as he put the rest of his clothes on. His whole body felt sore, but at this point it was pretty much routine for him. At least there didn’t seem to be any broken bones. As he pulled his t-shirt over his head, he went to look out the window.

Everything was covered in snow, but at least the sky was a spotless blue and the sun was shining. Going back home should be a breeze. Realizing the nurse hadn’t answered, Dean turned around to ask again.

“Shit!” he said when he saw that she had left the room. He slipped on his flannel, coat, socks, and boots in record time before heading out to find Castiel. The nurse had said he was in the next room, so he shouldn’t be all that hard to find.

Dean let out a relieved breath when Castiel was indeed in the first room he entered. He was washing down the nurse’s medicine with the water she had also brought him.

“Cas! You’re okay!” he said, startling both the patient and the nurse. “Come on, get dressed. We’re going back home.”

“If Carmen says it’s okay,” Castiel said, smiling at the nurse. And then it hit him.

“Carmen?” Dean parroted as he marched toward the bed. He grabbed the nurse’s arm, making her yelp. He took a good minute to look at her, if only to make sure the name wasn’t just a coincidence. It wasn’t.

“You’re not real,” he said. “It was a dream,” he added before looking back at Castiel. “A djinn dream…”

The angel squinted at Dean, Carmen, then back at Dean. “Stop it, Dean. You’re hurting her.”

When Dean looked at Carmen again, he saw the fear in her humid gaze. He swallowed as the heat bloomed in his cheeks. “I’m—I’m sorry—I—you really look like—” he tried to say, letting her go. She didn’t wait for him to be done explaining himself before making a hasty retreat.

Dean rubbed the back of his neck and huffed. “Come on, Cas! She’s probably calling security on us, we gotta go.” He pulled on Castiel’s blanket, only to get an eyeful on the angelic junk. 

“Damnit,” he said under his breath, averting his eyes as he went to the armoire where he hoped Castiel’s clothes had been stored. “Come on, get dressed,” he said, blindly throwing him the bag he had found.

As Castiel started rummaging through the bag, Dean went back to look outside. The view wasn’t much different from the one in his room. It was still sunny, still snowy, and… mountainous? Dread settled low in Dean’s gut.

“Cas? Something’s not right… you gotta come see this.”

“What is it?” the angel said as he came to stand next to him, already shrugging his trenchcoat on.

“What do you see?”

“Hmm…” The angel took his time, taking in the panorama. “I see houses. I see a church. There’s snow, children playing in the snow, adults shoveling the snow.”

“Yeah… and mountains.”

“And mountains… so?”

“Mountains, Cas! Don’t you get it?”

“I’m not sure I do, no.”

“There’s no mountains near the bunker, Cas. I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See? A little more meat today… not as much as tomorrow, but I’m hoping this one will have been satisfying to some extent.
> 
> Thank you a whole lot for reading. And thanks for the kudos and comment (gonna go reply to that right after I hit ok on this), I’m always happy to read anyone’s thought and feeeeeeeelings. 
> 
> Take care of yourselves, and I’ll be seeing you again tomorrow.


	3. Pamela

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys almost didn’t get a chapter today, it’s all Misha’s fault!
> 
> Well… not really his fault, but I was watching that Gishwhes party with members of my Gish team and then went straight to bed… until I remembered I hadn’t posted today’s gift yet.
> 
> So here I am, because a promise is a promise. The pace is starting to pick up a bit, I think… not that there’s ever gonna be loads of action. I’m not the action type of girl… I’m more like a talkative type of writer. Is that even a thing? Anyway… I still hope you’ll like this new chapter.
> 
> I don’t know about you, but I still miss Pamela Barnes a whole lot. She was an awesome character!

When the nurse – Carmen – came back, it wasn’t with a security guard in tow. Instead, she had gotten a doctor to come and see them. And to be frank, Dean would have known how to handle security much better. Unless the guard would have been yet another dead person.

“Pamela?” he said in a croak when the woman walked into the room. His heart stopped when she squinted at him and tilted her head. Her face then broke in that signature teasing smile of hers.

“Do we know each other? Because, I’m pretty sure if I’d met you, I wouldn’t have forgotten. I never forget a beautiful face… or a nice butt.”

Dean swallowed thickly. There was not denying it, this woman was indeed Pamela Barnes; the face, the voice, the unapologetic flirting. Except Dean knew it couldn’t be her. She had died years ago, and because of him no less. Which left him with a single logical explanation.

“I think we’re dead,” Dean said through his teeth. He glanced at Castiel who looked just as shocked as he himself felt. Yeah, Pamela would have made quite an impression on him too, seeing as he burned her eyes out.

“I think I’d know if I was dead,” Castiel replied in the same manner, only louder.

Pamela didn’t let Dean speak again, coming forward to shove a light in his left eye, then in his right. She did the same to Castiel, leaving Dean to groan and rub at his eyeballs.

“I can assure you that neither of you is dead,” Pamela said in a cheery tone. “You can take my word for it; I’m a professional.”

“Your name’s really Pamela Barnes, then?” Dean couldn’t help but ask. He knew the answer, still he needed her to confirm it.

She smiled and tapped a manicured finger on her name tag – Dr. P. Barnes, it read. “That’s what it says right here. Only, people around here usually call me Dr. Barnes.”

Smiling, she flattened a hand over Dean’s chest to slide it downward. Before Dean could say a word against it – or even for it – she showed him the stethoscope in her other hand. “Mind if I take a listen?”

Dean gave her back some weird mix between a shrug and a head shake. Pamela’s smile widened as she slid the cold apparatus beneath Dean’s t-shirt, making him yelp. She stopped over his heart and listened intently, her gaze never leaving Dean’s.

“Your heartbeat is quite fast,” she said after a while, her brows now scrunched together. “You won’t attack Carmen if I ask her to take your pressure, will you?”

“No…” Dean said as Pamela moved sideways to listen to Castiel’s heart while Carmen helped Dean taking off his flannel and jacket.

Five minutes later, Dean and Castiel were given a somewhat clean bill of health.

“If in the next days either of you gets nauseous, or just starts feeling weird, I want you to come back and see me, all right? Concussions are a serious business, we won’t want to take any chances. Your noggins seem pretty solid to me, but you never know.”

“We won’t be around long enough for that,” Dean said, eager to get back on the road and leave this weird place behind.

“You can’t. Leave town, I mean.” Pamela said. The concern on her face looked genuine enough. “We’re snowed in, the roads are impracticable.”

“My car’s a tough girl, she can plow through anything. She’ll get us out of here.”

Pamela’s smile had a pacifying quality this time as she gave Dean’s shoulder a comforting pat.

“I’m sorry to say that your car’s not doing as well as the two of you,” she said. “She’s in need of some serious repairs, but—” She stopped to laugh. “I’m sorry, I’m not a mechanic. You’re gonna have to speak to Bobby himself about that. Do you know where the auto shop is?” She laughed again. “No, of course, you don’t.”

Pamela walked to the window, beckoning Dean and Castiel to follow. She pointed at the steeple in the distance. “Bobby’s shop is right next to the church. We can’t see it from here ‘cause it’s on the other side, but it’s there. He’ll tell you all you need to know about your car and when she’s gonna be fit to hit the road again.”

Dean nodded as he fished his phone from his jean pocket. He started it up, only to find he had no bars… and not much battery power left either. He’d have to think about getting its cord from the Impala’s glove compartment.

Castiel did the same with his own phone only to show him he was it an very similar situation. Dean looked around, pursing his lips when he couldn’t see a phone anywhere. First time he’d seen a hospital room without a phone. Even an old rotary one would have been a godsent at this point.

“Pamela?” he said before the doctor could leave. “Is there a phone I can use? Ours aren’t getting any service around here.”

“I’m sorry… the storm made a lot of damage and all communications are down.”

“Well… how about computers? Those should still be working, right?”

Pamela’s cristalline laugh did nothing to reassure Dean. “You really think that if we don’t have phone service, we’ll still have internet? You know how that stuff works, don’t you?”

“I know, but… there has to be a way. Emergency services have to be able to reach the outside world, don’t they? I have to call my brother and let him know we’re okay.”

“Jack too will be worried,” Castiel provided. “My son…” he added for Pamela’s benefit. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t really the case, he still hoped it would help convey how badly they needed a phone right now.

“I don’t know what else to tell you, boys. Maybe after you’ve seen Bobby, you could go to the sheriff’s office. If anyone has a way to communicate with the outside world, it’s gonna be them.”

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks a lot for reading. I can only hope you’ll like where this is going, even if the pace is quite slow. Except, I do like things at a slower debit, so that kind of explains why.
> 
> Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts, I’d love to hear from you if you feel like it. I’ll see you again tomorrow! :D


	4. Bobby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another favorite of mine… of yours too, I’m sure… he’s certainly one of Dean’s favorites.
> 
> I find myself at a loss for words today… I like to say this and that about what’s going on, but all I want to do is go take a nap. So here you go, read on my lovelies, and I’ll be seeing you again tomorrow.
> 
> Did I tell you this wasn’t being beta’d? Because it ain’t… I’m lazy… there’s probably loads of mistakes, and I’m sorry about that.
> 
> Still, I hope you’ll like this new chapter. Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts if you feel like it. 
> 
> P.S.: I’ve added a bit of tags, mainly in the character listing. And I feel the need to add a couple pertaining to Dean and Castiel’s "emotional status"… or, you know, grumpy!Dean and sassy!Castiel or something like that. They’re not in the best of moods right now. (still not an "angsty" story… I just appreciate my boys with quite the mouth on them!)
> 
> .

Making their way across town took more time than Dean had envisioned. Mostly because the further into it they got, the more uncomfortable Dean felt. They had crossed paths with about a dozen people, each of them known to the hunter.

“Something’s not right, Cas,” Dean said every time a new, yet familiar face appeared. He couldn’t remember all of their names, but he knew he’d seen them before. Some he’d even saved from monsters. Only thing he couldn’t bank on was that they should still be alive or not.

“I’m failing to see what it is that’s not right,” Cas had answered almost every time. Which, in Dean’s opinion, had to be the biggest lies the angel ever told.

“You know as well as I do that Pamela Barnes died years ago. And yet, she’s a doctor – a doctor! – in some random clinic in a bumfuck nowhere town. How are you not seeing it? And all those people… I swear Cas, I’ve seen each and everyone of them at some point in my life.”

“You have met a lot of people, Dean. It’s only natural that—”

Dean stopped, extending an arm over the angel’s chest so he’d stop too. “Care to make a wager?”

“I don’t think now’s the time to be gambling, Dean.”

“Don’t care. It’s for the principle of it.” Dean made sure to look Castiel in the eye as he spoke. “I bet you one crisp dollar bill that it’s Bobby Singer we’re gonna find at that garage.”

“Bobby’s dead, Dean.”

“No shit, Sherlock! Yeah, he’s dead, just like Pamela’s supposed to be dead. And Carmen was a damn figment of my imagination. And those people walking around us should either be dead or… not here!”

“All right. I’ll give you a dollar if you’re right, but what good will that do?”

Dean took his arm back to bury both his hands in his pockets and start walking again. “I told you, it’s not about the dollar, Cas. It’s just so I can say I called it when we get there.”

Castiel followed without a word, him too with his hands buried in his coat. He tried to ignore how his toes had started getting numb, thanks to Jimmy’s inadequate dress shoes and socks. If he acknowledged it, he’d have to try and explain to Dean how he’d been feeling a little too human since he’d woken up. He wouldn’t know what to say.

“Are you cold?” an overly observant Dean said as they approached the church. Castiel gave him a sheepish stare.

“How did you—”

“I can hear your teeth clatter, and you’re shivering.” Dean stopped again, but Castiel kept going. “Cas! Did you lose your mojo? What’s going on?” the hunter asked as he followed his friend.

“I don’t know… let’s just get to the garage.”

Dean harrumphed, but didn’t stop again, accelerating his pace to match Castiel’s. When they saw the sign above the auto shop’s office door, neither of them could even feign being surprised.

“Told ya,” Dean only said when he pushed the door in, making the store’s bell chime. Once more, his heart constricted when he heard a familiar gruff voice come from inside the garage part of the shop.

“Be with ya in a second,” they heard, and there was no mistaking as to who that voice belonged to.

Dean and Castiel turned to one another with the same shocked look on their faces.

“It’s impossible,” Castiel said, trying to warm up by rubbing his hands together. “It can’t be the real Bobby. He’s in Heaven, saw him there myself.”

“Just like I saw Pamela up there too,” Dean provided, glad not to be the only one sailing the eerie boat anymore. “You say your mojo’s down. Are you sure we’re not in Heaven? It’s the only explanation that makes sense.”

“I really doubt it, Dean.” He huffed, wiping a rough hand over his own face. “Angels don’t go to Heaven. We get sent to the Empty, I told you about that.”

“What’s this place, then?” Dean almost screamed, getting more worried with each passing second.

“It’s an auto shop, ya idjit… can’t ya read?”

And there he was, wiping his hands on an oil stained rage: Bobby Singer.

“Bobby? Is it really you?” Dean said, his voice thick with emotions. Had there not been a counter between them, he would have gone ahead and hugged the man. Seeing the look he got back, being unable to hug him might have been a blessing after all.

“Who else would it be?” the man said. His gaze shifted between Dean and Castiel, both expectant and impatient. “So… you’re here about the Impala, I gather?”

Dean’s heart sunk. Bobby Singer, his own damn surrogate father, didn’t recognize him.

“Bobby, it’s me. Dean! Don’t you remember me?” he still tried, not ready to accept being a stranger to the best man he’d ever known. “Dean Winchester?” he tried again, only to receive a pout and shrug back.

“Sorry kid, don’t know ya.” Bobby cleared his throat, shoving the dirty rag in his overall’s back pocket. “So… about your car… it’s gonna take a while before she’s fit to take the road again.”

This wasn’t something Dean could accept. He and Castiel had to get out of this place as soon as possible. “Look, I’ve rebuilt her more times than I can count. I can make her as good as new in no time. Maybe I could work on her in your—”

“What do you take me for, boy? A damn rookie? I can repair your car, ya idjit… I just don’t have the parts. And getting ‘em won’t happen for some time because the ro—”

“The roads are impracticable, yeah, we heard,” Dean completed in place of the mechanic. “You gotta be fucking kidding me! How long?”

“With that attitude, it might take a bit longer than expected,” the older man said, pretty much snarling now.

It came as a shock for Dean to be on Bobby’s bad side. He’d never been the most amicable and touchy-feely type of guy, yet he’d always had this warm light in his eyes whenever Sam or Dean were around. Even pissed at them, there’d always be a thick layer of affection. That light was nowhere to be seen.

“Look, man, I’m sorry, I just—”

“Yeah, you better be sorry.” Bobby readjusted his trucker cap. “I’ll work on your car as soon as I can, but it won’t happen for at least a week. Can you come back see me next Monday? I should know more by then.”

While Castiel let out a shocked gasp, Dean crossed his arms over his chest. “Six days? You’re telling me to come back in six days? Where the hell am I supposed to go ‘til then? It’s not like I have a car to go home. I don’t even have a change of underwear.”

“That’s your problem, boy, not mine. We got stores, you can find what you need if you’re not too difficult. In the meantime, I tell you to come back next Monday because I should know more by then. Just don’t come knockin’ before noon, you hear? We’re closed before that.”

Bobby turned his back to Dean and Castiel to walk in the garage. He stopped in the door frame to look at them over his shoulder. “You’re gonna need a place to lay your head… we don’t have an inn or anything, but we can help you out.” He pointed toward the back of the garage. “A couple of streets over that way, you’ll find Harvelle’s Roadhouse. Ask for Ellen, she’ll be waitin’ for ya.”

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	5. Lisa & Ben

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine most of you might have expected to see today’s chapter be about Ellen Harvelle... so… HAH! GOTCHA!!!
> 
> Of course, we’ll be seeing Ellen… and Jo… and many more people. Just not right now… what can I say? Shit happens, you know?
> 
> My intention is not to torture Dean (much) in this piece. There’s a reason they’re meeting all these people. I know what it is. You don’t. And that’s all I can really say about that for the time being. 
> 
> I really hope you’ll appreciate the surprise (an even surprising surprise would have been to not have their names as this chapter’s title). I may be a total Destiel trash girl, I still appreciated Lisa and Ben… they were good for Dean while it lasted. I’m just not mad that it didn’t (and, thankfully, they didn’t feel the need to kill them to get rid of them).
> 
> Thanks a whole lot for reading… as always, I’m open to your thoughts and feelings, I’d love to read you! (no pressure, you do you… just sayin'). And I’ll see you again tomorrow for chapter #6. 
> 
> .

It didn’t matter that Bobby had told them to go north, Dean refused to let himself be stranded in the middle of nowhere. Even if it meant he had to walk miles upon miles to find his way out and steal a damn snow plower so he could come back and get his car. After grabbing whatever he could from the Impala and promising himself he’d always have a packed duffel from now on, Dean marched back onto the street with Castiel on his heels.

“Dean, Bobby said to go—”

“Not going there, Cas. You heard what he said, right? Harvelle’s Roadhouse… even that damn shabby bar’s back from the dead. We gotta get outta this place before it swallows us whole.”

“But—Dean, wait.”

And even though he felt like an ass to be making Castiel run after him, Dean’s pace didn’t falter.

The more they walked, the further apart the houses got to one another. Until there were no more houses to be seen. Or even roads, for that matter.

“There’s nothing that way,” Dean heard Castiel say. He sounded too far away for Dean’s own comfort, so he stopped to turn around. He gulped when he saw the angel with his arms wrapped around himself, shivering. Rolling his eyes, he walked back toward his friend.

“Come on, Cas, get a grip! It’s not that cold, is it?” 

Dean knew it was pretty damn cold – he felt it too – but he had chosen not to think about it or how it made no sense whatsoever. It was way too early in December for that much snow and for the temperatures to be this low. Too early for Kansas, or anywhere in America for that matter. Okay, maybe it’d make sense for Alaska, but there was no way they’d driven all the way over there.

When Castiel spoke, Dean couldn’t help but notice the trembling of his chin and the blueish tint of his lips. “My clothes aren’t ideal for this this type of weather, Dean. It feels as if my insides have turned to ice.”

“So what? Want me to give you my coat?”

All Castiel could do was glare at Dean before turning around to go back where they came from. “I’m walking back to the village. Do what you will, I’ll wait for your return somewhere warmer.”

“Cas! Come on, don’t be stupid. We’re just minutes from the main road, I’m sure of it. We’ll catch a ride and—”

“You don’t even know where we are, Dean!” Castiel yelled without turning around.

When Dean turned his back to Castiel, he truly wanted to keep walking. And he did, only not for long, turning around to watch over his friend every thirty seconds.

“Son of a bitch!” he spat under his breath when Castiel disappeared behind a patch of evergreens. “Castiel!” he screamed as he started running back, unable to handle not having that stupid trenchcoat in his line of sight. “Wait up!”

Except Castiel didn’t wait, trotting back toward the village with his arms still wrapped around his shivering body. Dean soon caught up to him, the cold air burning his lungs. “Wait up, I said.”

“I need to get inside, Dean. I can’t feel my toes or fingers anymore. I wouldn’t be surprised if they fell off, you know. And it’d be your fault.”

And okay, maybe Castiel had a tendency at over dramatisation, he still could have been on his way to freeze to death thanks to his powers being down. Yet Dean wasn’t too keen on visiting ghost bars from the past… quite literally. Castiel didn’t seem to care as he turned on the street next to Bobby’s shop, heading for the Roadhouse.

The shivers that erupted in Dean’s body had nothing to do with the weather. The building might have been in better shape than the one he’d known, it still was Ellen’s old bar standing there. Dean closed his eyes for a second, hoping it would have been a mirage. When he opened them again, he let out a dispirited breath.

He was trying to find a way to convince Castiel to turn back around when he saw it.

“Castiel!” he said, grabbing at his friend’s arm to stop him in his stride.

“Dean! Let go of me,” the angel said, sounding right about to smite someone. To smite him.

“Look!” Dean just said, pulling his friend behind him as he made his way into a small thrift shop. “They gotta have warmer clothes here.”

Still trembling, Castiel could at least appreciate not being outside anymore. He gave the hunter a tight smile and started going through the overflowing racks.

“Welcome to Second Chances,” Dean heard someone say next to him. “How can we help you today?”

“We’re looking for—”

Dean’s words died in his throat when he turned to face the salesman who had addressed him. He stayed there with his mouth agape, his brain wiped squeaky clean.

“For…? Something for you? A gift, maybe?” the young man insisted, still smiling.

“Cas?” Dean almost screamed when he found his voice back, startling the young man. “I’m—I’m sorry—we gotta—”

“Ben, is everything okay over there?”

He only could see the top of her head peeking beyond the racks overflowing with clothes, still Dean knew who had spoken; Lisa Braeden. And that eager teen waiting for his answer was none other than her son, Ben. Damn, he’d grown so much since he’d seen him last. Dean swallowed; how could he even be meeting a grown up version of the kid if they were all dead people? 

“We’re good, mom. I think?” he added for Dean’s benefit, giving him an expectant look.

“I’m sorry… I gotta—Cas! We gotta go!”

The angel had already made his way further into the store, either not hearing Dean or ignoring him. Dean took a deep breath before going after Castiel, grabbing a couple of big enough looking coats on the way.

“We gotta go, Cas. Now!”

“But I still need—”

He shoved the coats in Castiel’s arms before pointing to a small display of boots. “What’s your shoe size?” Dean asked.

“I don’t know.”

Dean looked down and squinted at Castiel’s shoes, trying to assess their size. They didn’t look that much bigger than his, but were definitely smaller than Sam’s. He nodded to himself, taking the only pair of eleven on the rack. He dropped them onto the coats along with pairs of mittens, snow hats with floppy ears, and two obviously hand-knitted scarves before pushing the angel toward the cash register.

“There, got all we need. Let’s pay for this shit and go.”

Not waiting for Castiel to respond, Dean snapped his fingers before going back to grab two pairs of snow pants and a bag of wool socks. He dropped everything on the pile Cas had put on the counter.

“Dean, I’m not sure I like that coat you chose all that much.”

“Doesn’t matter, Cas. It’s only until we—”

“Will that be all?”

When Lisa came into full view, Dean lost his words once more. Like the last time he’d seen them in the hospital, there was no sign of recognition in her eyes. It didn’t make it any easier on Dean who felt just about to start bawling.

“Yes, that will be all, thank you,” he heard Castiel say, unable to stop staring at the woman he once loved – that he’d always kind of love – as she rang the items in. When the angel came to stand between them – hiding her – Dean could have hugged him he was so grateful. It took a couple of seconds, but he found his breath again as he focused on the back of his friend’s head instead.

“Are you okay?” Castiel mouthed over his shoulder. Or maybe he spoke, Dean couldn’t have been sure. Still, he nodded, glad to see his friend didn’t look like an extra from  _ Frozen _ anymore.

“That’ll be a total of fifty-six dollars. You got cash, right? Credit or debit isn’t working right now. We’re lucky to even have power. If you don’t have cash, I can take down your credit card info, I just can’t verify it.”

Castiel looked back again to see Dean nod as he pulled his wallet out to hand it to him. “Cash is fine. Gonna go wait outside,” he mumbled before walking back out, barely acknowledging Ben as he did.

Castiel followed about five minutes later, already donning the boots, one of the coats and pants, and a hat. He handed the bag with the rest of the clothes to Dean, a sad frown on his face. “I’m so sorry, Dean… if I’d known—”

“Yeah, well you didn’t know,” Dean said after grabbing the bag – a little too roughly – and taking out stuff for him to wear. He’d been the one insisting to go in that store, after all. “Ready to try again?” he asked, pointing his thumb back toward the edge of town as he too put on the swishy pants and coat.

Castiel gave him a slight nod. “Ready. Lead the way.”

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	6. Harvelle’s Roahouse – Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally… they made it to Harvelle’s Roadhouse. I feel this is where a lot of the action will happen. Not right in this chapter, of course, but I can already tell you there are going to be 3 parts to what I’m publishing today (2 and 3 to be published tomorrow and the day after). 
> 
> You might wanna say I’m stretching it out… maybe… or maybe I like to keep y’all on your toes. I try as much as possible to leave you with some sort of a cliffhanger… Nothing real big so far, yet I’m hoping it’s compelling enough you to come back the day after.
> 
> Know what I mean? :D
> 
> (I also have 25 days of story telling to give you, so you know… on a story pretty much unplanned… that’s what happens!! lol)
> 
> Again, nothing’s beta’d, so sorry for any mistakes I will have made. Because there’s bound to be some mistakes, no matter how much I reread it.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this new chapter, and I hope to see you again today! Take care of yourselves and don’t hesitate to share your thoughts or feeeeelings… what do YOU think’s gonna happen next? (it’s not like I’ll tell ya… I’m just curious! lol)
> 
> .

They could have been wearing the best winter gear in the universe, there was no way Dean and Castiel could have made it out of the town that way. They walked for almost two hours without seeing much change in the scenery, never crossing paths with a single person or animal.

“I think maybe we should start going back,” Castiel said, his voice muffled by the scarf wrapped around his face. “We’re clearly not heading in the right direction. I’m afraid your infallible compass may be broken, Dean.”

“You’re the one with a broken compass,” Dean scoffed after pulling his own scarf down. “We can’t go back to that creepy place, all right?”

“So you’d rather die out here frozen stiff? I know I don’t.”

“Go back, then! I’m not keeping you,” Dean spat again, ignoring how the more he said it, the more ridiculous it sounded. “I’ll come back to get you whenever I can.”

“No, you won’t… if I let you go on your own, you’ll die because you’re just that stubborn. Which means I’ll have to go and rescue your ‘sorry ass’ the minute I get my ‘mojo’ back.”

Dean couldn’t help but chuckle at Castiel trying to finger quote through his mittens. He looked up at the dark sky, filled to the brim with stars… he hadn’t seen that much in a very long time. He tried to find the little constellations he knew, without success. At that moment he could have believe they weren’t even on Earth anymore. What the hell was going on?

“I’m kinda scared, Cas.”

“Scared of what? Of Ellen and Jo? I remember you being quite fond of them.”

“Of course, I was… that’s not the point.” Dean realized they had stopped walking. “Except it’s not really them… and I don’t know what they are, or if I’m even alive." He sighed. "Maybe you aren’t even here and I’m stuck inside some fucking nightmare or talkin’ to myself and—”

There were so many layers between Castiel’s hand and his shoulder that Dean wouldn’t have known it was there if he hadn’t seen it for himself. “I assure you that I’m here. You’re not talking to yourself. I say we go back and find out what’s going on. At the very least, let’s get some food in our bellies and a good night sleep. We can always try to leave again tomorrow, okay?”

Even though he knew Castiel was right, Dean still made a point of huffing and kicking the snow as he turned back around. They walked side by side in silence, glad they were able to follow their own footprints back. When it started snowing again – which could have screwed up that plan immensely – they were close enough to at least see the village’s lights in the distance.

“You think Harvelle’s still gonna be open?” Dean asked, now worried they might have lost their chance at a warm meal and lodging.

“I don’t know. If it’s closed, we’ll find something else. We could always go to the clinic…”

They made their way back quickly, walking into the Roadhouse about thirty minutes after the snow had started.

“Hey! Ellen! You owe me a beer, yetis do exist,” someone yelled, making everyone laugh.

“Keep dreaming, Garth!” Dean heard a well-known voice reply. Its familiar owner came into view a second later. “Both of you, go back outside and brush yourselves off! You gonna be floodin' my bar with all that snow,” Ellen Harvelle chided the newcomers, pushing them back outside. 

“Ash, come and mop that shit up, would you?” Dean heard her say as the door closed in his and Castiel’s back.

“Garth is in there. And Ash too,” he said, increasingly nervous.

“I do remember Garth, but who’s Ash?”

“A friend of Ellen’s… a dead friend of Ellen’s, I should say.”

“Seems to be a recurrent theme around here.”

“Last I heard, Garth wasn’t dead… I haven’t talked to him in a while, so who knows?”

As he spoke, Dean brushed himself off as best as he could. Castiel did the same, not doing such a good job at it with the snow sticking to his mittens. He eventually held up them up, unable to get rid of the thick coat of snow on them. “I don’t think I’ll be allowed back inside.”

Dean shook his head. “You think you’d know how snow works by now… aren’t you older than the Earth?” He pulled the stiff mittens off of Castiel’s hands and started hitting them on the wall, making the caked snow break and fly off.

At this point, they had become pretty useless, and damp, but at least they weren’t made of snow anymore. Dean gave them back to Castiel to do the same with his. Then they both used that method on their hats and scarves. Or saying that they tried would be a better assessment.

“Mom said you can come in if you’re done trying to destroy her property out here.”

Both men stopped slapping the snow off of each other to gape at Jo who stood in the doorway.

She rolled her eyes. “Or you can stay out here, see if I care.”

Castiel and Dean moved before Jo could close the door on them. She gave them a smirk, pointing at a row of hooks on the wall, most of them already with coats hanging off of them. “Put your shit here. I’ll give you the table next to the fireplace. You must be freezing,” she said, leaving them to walk to the other side of the open space.

If the inside overall looked like the roadhouse Dean had known, it felt and looked much better. There was a damn fireplace, for fuck’s sake. And the clients weren’t just a bunch of alcoholic hunters… it looked like a place normal where people would actually wanna hang out.

As they made their way toward their table, Dean had to work hard not to start staring at the other patrons. The further in they got, the worst Dean felt… there weren’t only dead people in here. Some, as far as he knew, should have still been alive out there. Just like Garth… or those other ones he’d seen strolling around town… probably.

“What’s wrong?” Castiel said once seated, alarmed by the ashen tone of his friend’s face.

“Is this okay? Would you rather sit elsewhere?” Jo asked, sounding perplexed herself.

“No, it’s—I’m good—thanks j—thanks, miss,” Dean said in a stammer, hiding behind the menu she had dropped between them.

“You can call me Jo… would you like something warm while you look at the menu? Coffee or—”

“Whisky. Double. Neat.”

“We got—”

“The cheapest kind.” Still not looking at Jo, Dean pointed at Cas. “And he’ll have—”

“I’d like some coffee myself.” Castiel took the menu Dean had been hiding behind and handed it back to Jo. “We’ll each have a bacon cheeseburger with fries. Thank you.”

Dean waited for Jo to be gone to speak again. “Cas… we’re surrounded by them.”

“I know… I recognize some people myself. Other than Ellen and Jo, I mean.”

“Glad to know I’m not the only one about to go crazy.”

“You gotta be the boys Bobby told me about,” Ellen said as she came to sit with them, prompting Dean to clam up. “Told me you might need a place to sleep?”

“Yes ma’am, we do. We might need to stay here for a bit of time, until our car is—humpf!” Castiel glared at Dean for having kicked him in the shin. “Until Dean’s car is repaired.” 

“Yeah, he told me ‘bout that. Look, we don’t get much visitors in these parts… like, I’m not in the business of harboring strangers in my home, you feel me?”

Both nodded. Real or not, Ellen Harvelle could still be damn impressive, if not right damn scary.

“Got a couple of rooms above the bar, and Ash is renting one of them,” she said, pointing at the man still sporting that same mullet he did years ago. “Means I only got one room left, with one double bed. You boys okay with that?”

Castiel and Dean both glanced at each other, with Castiel looking away first. “We’re okay with that,” he assured Ellen with a confident smile. “How much is it?”

As she got back up, Ellen smirked at them. “Right now, not a cent. The room’s there whether you use it or not. ‘Round here, we like to help one another.” She focused on Dean and winked. “I’m pretty sure you boys will find something to repay me in the near future.”

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	7. Harvelle’s Roahouse – Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow… it’s been a week already of doing this. At this pace, I’ll need another month to finish up this story. (I’m only kidding… told ya it was a 25Days/25Chapters kinda deal, so that’s what I’m doing.)
> 
> It’s gonna get fluffier, I swear… it’s just, right now, the guys just wanna leave. I mean… wouldn’t you? I know I would… no internet? no way I’d be staying in that place either. I too would try to walk away. (Meh… who am I kidding… I wouldn’t!!!)
> 
> I hope you’ll like this new chapter. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you again tomorrow! :D
> 
> .

“I think we’re in hell,” Dean said when they were left alone again. “You saw what Ellen did, right? Pretty sure this is all a setup. We’re gonna have to make some kind of evil deal to get out of here, and—”

“We’re not in hell,” Castiel said. “That would mean that we’re dead, which I’m not.”

Dean gave him a suspicious once over. “Yeah… still have no proof that you’re really you either. Maybe you’re a demon making me see things to torture me and stuff.”

“I wish I knew how to convince you.”

“You and me, buddy,” Dean said, leaning back on his chair. He sighed, ready to down that double whiskey already. He was about to call out to Jo when he saw her walking toward them with a tumbler of amber liquid and a steaming cup.

He grabbed the glass right out of her hand and guzzled the content before handing it back to her. “I’m gonna need another one of those,” he said to the shocked woman.

“Why don’t I bring you the bottle with a straw?” she quipped. She certainly hadn’t expected him to agree.

“That’s a great idea, Jo. Bring the bottle. No need for a straw. Thanks!”

“Dean… I don’t think getting drunk is such a great idea right now,” Castiel said in a hiss when Jo had left again. “We still don’t know what we’re dealing with here.”

“Not getting drunk, getting warm. Plus the burger will soak most of it up.” He leaned over the table, daring Castiel to try and argue. “This ain’t my first rodeo, so back off.”

Castiel raised his hands, placating, before wrapping them over the hot mug. He let out a satisfied hum as he took a sip, eyes closed. When Dean spoke again, he didn’t sound as irritated… or irritating.

“I think we should talk to Ash.”

“What for?”

“When Sam and I got shot that time, we went to Heaven, remember? Anyway… we were trying to lose Zachariah and Ash helped us. He’d found a way to travel between heavens… if that’s where we are then he should be able to help us.”

“I told you already, Dean, we’re not in Heaven. If we were, I wouldn’t be powerless.”

“Unless they wanted you to be.”

Castiel shook his head. “Not how this works…” he countered, very much aware that he’d been messed with before by angels. Not that wanted to remind Dean of that fact.

“Don’t care,” Dean said before grabbing at Ash who had come to buss the table next to theirs.

“Hey! Hands off, compadre!” the man said, his hand flapping around as he evaded Dean’s grasp. “I’m not that kind of girl.”

“Sorry, man… I just need to ask you a question.”

“Go ahead,” Ash said, resuming his task. “What can I help you with?” He stopped to squint at Dean. “If you need something to drink, you gotta ask Jo. She’s the one working tables.”

“That’s not—I’m just—say, do you recognize me at all?”

This time, Ash put the tray he’d been filling up on the table to turn and look at Dean. He leaned forward and tilted his head, his eyes roaming all over Dean’s face. He did the same to Castiel before straightening up again.

“Nope… you guys actors or something? Rock stars?”

“No, no… I mean… no, I guess you don’t know me, then. I thought we might have met before.” Dean let out an embarrassed chuckle. “A long time ago.”

“Don’t worry, man, I get it.” Ash brushed his hair over his shoulder, giving Dean a smug look. “I’m really flattered, but…” He waved a hand at his body. “This masterpiece is for the ladies only. Thanks, though. Really.”

Dean almost choked on his own tongue at Ash’s response, his face turning into a dangerous shade of red. He looked back at Castiel.

“That’s not what I meant… you know that, right?” he defended himself even though he knew he shouldn’t have to. “I mean… did I really sound like I was coming on to him?”

Castiel didn’t answer and shrugged, going back to sip on his coffee. Dean kept looking around, starting to get antsy again from having nothing to drink. Luckily, he didn’t have to wait for much longer, Jo getting back with a half full bottle of cheap whiskey.

“There you go,” she said as she dropped it on the table, along with a clean glass. “Your food will be ready in about five.” She turned to Castiel. “Want something else to drink?”

“Coffee’s fine. Thank you, Jo.”

She grinned at him, something Dean couldn’t say he’d witnessed the real Jo Harvelle do all that often. Not that he’d known her that long. And, well, the last time he’d seen her she’d been sent by an Egyptian God to kill him. 

Fun times.

“I know every single person in this bar,” Dean said after when she’d left, his voice as low as possible. “Not only do I know them, but they all—most of them were my friends, to some extent. And I can’t even go and talk to them. I swear, I’m at the point where I’m expecting Charlie to walk through the door any minute now.” He brushed a hand over his face. “Benny’s right there, chatting with Garth and Cassie.” Dean noticed Castiel’s squint. “Cassie’s another one of my exes.”

“You dated that woman?”

“Yeah, I did… a long time ago.” Dean didn’t try to stifle the warm smile the memory prompted. “Even believed we were in love… hell… she might have been, but I’m not sure I was. Don’t think that’s something I can ever do.”

“That’s a lie, Dean Winchester, and you know it. You are one of the most loving people I’ve ever met.”

Dean shrugged. “Didn’t say I couldn’t like anyone, but being in love? That’s a whole other ball game.”

As promised, the food arrived on the table less than five minutes later. Although his stomach felt full of knots, Dean welcomed the distraction. Between Cas talking about love and Dean looking around to see all those people he once knew, concentrating on his burger instead could only be doing some good.

Neither of them spoke for a while, not until they both had engulfed their burgers as if their lives depended on it. If it could have been the case for Dean, Castiel shouldn’t have even been hungry to begin with. Dean looked at his friend as he plowed through his fries just as ravenously.

“So you’re real hungry, then?” Dean asked, having paused munching on the fries to down his glass and fill it up again. “You’re tired too?”

“Indeed,” Castiel said with a nod, cleaning up the burger drippings with the last of his fries. “The feeling of hunger has pretty much settled now.” He plopped the potatoes in his mouth, taking time to chew and swallow before speaking again. “I’m not too excited about what’s to come next… you know… urinating and such. Not pleasant at all.”

Dean couldn’t help the corners of his mouth from curling up a bit. “Yeah, I hear ya. You’ll get used to it, though.”

“I’d rather not have to.”

The angel’s retort should have been enough to make Dean erupt in laughter, except the bar door opening caught his attention instead. That and the tall frame that walked through it.

It didn’t matter that the man had a hat and scarf hiding most of his face, Dean still knew who hid under those layers of wool.

“Dean?” Castiel said when he noticed the shock on the hunter’s face. He turned around, curious as to what Dean could be looking at. And just like him, his mouth gaped open as he watched the man slowly reveal himself.

“Sam…”

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	8. Harvelle’s Roahouse – Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’M SO SORRY!!!! I have no excuse except the fact that have been super negligent yesterday and, well… I realized I hadn’t posted as I was getting ready to leave for the evening. And I was so last minute that I couldn’t even spare some time to post, otherwise I would have been late.
> 
> Still, there’s a silver lining… I think. Like it would be the case with the edible kind of advent calendar, it means you get two treats today. One this morning and the other one later today. (I could post them both at once, but what’s the fun in that? Better to savour these things, don’t you think?)
> 
> I’ll be more "vocal" when I post the other one later… I didn’t have a single sip of coffee yet and didn’t have much sleep. So… it’s better if I just don’t try to say too much, I’ll just put myself in trouble.
> 
> See you later today. I hope you’ll like this chapter. Thanks for reading! :D
> 
> .

Before Castiel could stop him, Dean had gotten up to go stand in front of his brother. He couldn’t see the hunter’s face, but Castiel could still picture the deception on it when Sam Winchester gave Dean a confused look and walked around him to go join the others at the bar.

Except Castiel had underestimated how hurt Dean would be. When he walked back to the table, Dean kept his gaze to the floor, marching with his fists at his sides.

“We’re leaving,” Dean said as he grabbed the bottle to drink directly from it, never once looking at Castiel. “Gonna go find Ellen to pay and ask her to show us the room.” He turned back around, still with the bottle in hand, and went to the side of the bar opposite of where his brother sat.

Castiel took care of grabbing their clothes from the hooks, unsure if they’d be going back outside to access the room. He waited by the door until Dean beckoned him to follow toward the back.

“… outside. More practical this way,” he heard Ellen say when he joined them and followed them up the stairs. He wasn’t sure what she was talking about, but Dean would probably be filling him in anyway.

“We won’t be in your way for very long. Say… you don’t happen to have a working phone, do you?”

“Sorry, boys… nobody does right now. Maybe try the sheriff’s station?”

“Yeah, we’ll go there tomorrow. I really gotta check on my brother. So… where’s the station?”

“You go back toward Campbell Avenue, that’s the street Bobby’s shop is on. The station’s on Hurley street, about halfway between Bobby’s and the clinic. Real easy to find.” Ellen led the way toward a door with a brass number two nailed onto it. “My late husband had big plans for this place,” she explained as she unlocked the door and opened it.

She flicked on the lights and moved so the men could enter. “It’s nothing much, and the bathroom is at the end of the hall, but it should be cosy enough,” she said, standing near the door with her arms crossed. “I make a point in keeping this place clean and ready, in case someone needs it. And today, that’s you. Everything looks good to you?”

“It’s perfect, thank you,” Castiel said as he dropped the winter clothes on the armchair next to the window. He was startled when Ellen tsked at him.

“There’s a closet right there, you know? The coats are still wet, you’re gonna ruin the upholstery if you leave ‘em there.”

“Sorry,” Castiel blurted out as he went to comply.

“Good boy…” She turned back to face Dean. “We don’t serve breakfast or anything here. We don’t actually open until eleven. There’s a small diner down the road, real close to the sheriff’s station. They open at six and they serve the best pancakes in the world. Their coffee’s not too shabby either. The door to the bar downstairs will be locked between four and eleven, so you gotta get out through the back. And you won’t be able to come back in before eleven if you leave. We’re clear?”

“Crystal. Shouldn’t be an issue anyway. Thanks, Ellen.” And even though he knew she couldn’t be the Ellen we knew, Dean still had the urge to go and hug her. He crossed his arms and took a step back instead.

“My pleasure. Good night, boys. See you tomorrow.”

The next second, Dean and Castiel were alone in the room, which all of a sudden felt much too small. At least it was warm.

“Which side?” Dean asked. He had considered for a second just dozing off in the armchair, but he knew it’d be ridiculous. So what if he and Cas shared a bed? It wasn’t as if the angel was some pretty girl he’d be super tempted to bone, was he?

“Either one. I can sleep in the chair if you’d rather have the bed to yourself, I don’t mind.”

“No way… we both need a good night sleep if we’re gonna trek all the way back to civilization tomorrow.” Dean threw the bed covers back before sitting to take his boots and socks off. He took off the snow pants and his belt but decided to keep the jeans on, not comfortable enough to get into bed with Cas only wearing his undies.

Castiel apparently didn’t mind all that much. “I’d rather you kept your clothes on, Cas,” he said when he turned to find the angel with his snow pants and slacks around his ankles.

“But they’re cold, Dean. They’re damp and cold, I won’t be able to sleep in them.”

Dean sighed, raising a warning finger. “All right, but you keep those boxers on, you hear?”

“Of course, Dean. I’m not totally inept, you know.”

It didn’t take long for both men to be under the covers, both as close as they could be to the edge without falling over. There still wasn’t that much space between them, but at least they weren’t touching. Touching would be… unwise.

“You stay on your side of the bed and all’s gonna be peachy,” Dean said in a warning tone after turning off the lights.

Instead of confirming, Castiel huffed and shuffled a bit, making Dean tense up. “Would you like to talk about it?”

And, well, that wasn’t helping Dean relax at all.

“What is there to talk about? Just keep to your side, man. There’s nothing more to say about it.”

Castiel huffed again. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do, and that’s called deflecting. In other words, no, I don’t wanna talk about it.”

“But, Dean—”

“Just shut up, would you? Whatever you think’s happening, I don’t care. Tomorrow we’re going to have breakfast, then we’ll see the sheriff and pray he’s got a working phone… or she… pray she’s got a working phone, because it’s gonna be Jody, I just know it.” Dean clenched his teeth, the headache from earlier now back in full force. He took a deep breath before continuing. “And after that we’re walking back to civilization. Got it? Gonna go to sleep now?”

“What if—”

“What if nothing… that wasn’t Sam down there, and those people aren’t our friends. Dunno who or what they are, and I’m not staying here to find out. Now go to sleep or I swear to—”

“I’d rather you didn’t say it.”

“Fine, just… shut up, and go to sleep.”

“Very well. Good night, Dean.”

And even though he couldn’t see him, Dean could still feel the expectation oozing from the angel’s body. He groaned – if only to make some kind of point – before answering him.

“Yeah… you too, Cas.”

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	9. Robin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See… promised you could have too treats today because I "forgot" yesterday. Here’s chapter nine for you, where Dean once more revisits a bit of his past. No worries, it’s not a Christmas Carol type of story, not ghosts of the past, present, or future here. No lesson to be learn…
> 
> Or is there…?
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and I really hope you’re liking it so far. I know I don’t give you much of the intrigue at a time, but I really like to revisit all those people, some will be revisited more in depth as the story progresses (pretty sure the almost-no-interaction with Sam in the last chapter will have kept you wanting more. No worries, there will be more… eventually… it’s a promise!!!)
> 
> See you again tomorrow! (For real… I swear… stop squinting at me… I won’t forget again!!!)
> 
> .

Dean might never have been one to sleep a whole lot, but at least when he did, he liked to think it would be some kind of restful. It certainly hadn’t been the case this time. He could even say he hadn’t really slept at all, the whole night spent in a perpetual state of awareness.

Castiel breathing.

Castiel moving.

Dean almost falling off the bed every five minutes.

Noises coming from downstairs.

Familiar voices.

Familiar dead voices.

Dead people laughing.

Castiel moving again.

Castiel alive.

Castiel needing to sleep, and eat, and…

“I knew you were grumpy in the morning, but don’t you think this is excessive? Even for you, I mean,” Castiel said as he dropped a couple of sugar cubes in his coffee.

Not in the mood to even attempt responding, Dean just pursed his lips and glared at the angel over the diner’s menu. They’d gotten up pretty early only to find the sheriff’s station wouldn’t open for another two hours. So they’d followed Ellen’s advice and found the diner where they could have breakfast, less than a hundred feet from the station.

Still, Dean had tried to have them walk away from the restaurant, its name having made Dean’s blood run cold: Cuss’s Place. Except Castiel wouldn’t have it, having argued he was in dire need of sustenance. 

This time, when Robin had come to serve them some coffee and hand a couple of menus, she hadn’t feigned not recognizing Dean. Because, like everyone else in that retched town, she didn’t know who he was. Didn’t matter that he knew her.

“Someone else you know? Is she supposed to be deceased as well?” Castiel had asked after she’d left, seeing the look of grief that had fallen over Dean’s face.

“Robin… another girlfriend. She was still alive a couple of years ago, but who knows, right?”

And that had been all Dean said about it, choosing to sulk as he perused the menu and sent warning stares to Castiel every time he attempted to speak. Until Cas had had enough and called him grumpy. They’d been glaring at each other ever since.

“Ready to order, guys? Or would you like another minute?”

Startled by Robin’s voice, both men were forced to end their staring contest. Dean cleared his throat and asked for the steak and eggs while Castiel decided to follow Ellen’s suggestion and try the pancakes.

“You should have taken something with more protein, man. We got a long walk ahead of us, you need the energy.”

“Pancakes are plenty energetic. And there’s gonna be bacon.”

“You know me, I’m all about bacon… I still don’t think it’ll be enough.”

Castiel rolled his eyes. “I’ll get some snacks before we leave. Happy?”

Dean shrugged and turned to look outside the window. As more and more people invaded the snowy streets, he found he couldn’t make himself look away. And every time he’d recognize someone, their name would escape his lips.

“Aaron. Annie. Not sure. Elleo—Lenore? Rufus. Shit! Pastor Jim! Layla, I think. Madison…”

“Dean?” Castiel said softly, interrupting Dean’s enumeration.

“I know them all, Cas. Each and everyone of them.” Looking away to face his friend took a whole lot out of him. “What kind of a fresh hell is this, huh? Can you at least tell me that?”

“I have to admit, I’m stumped.” He quirked an eyebrow at Dean. “Although… I recall you were quite rude to that witch yesterday. The one at the store we went to.”

“So? She’s a witch, man. She’s lucky I didn’t gank her on the spot.”

“She was more like a helpful saleswoman who just so happens to be dabbling in witchery. She was nice, Dean.”

“Witches are monsters… humans, mostly, but still monsters. You remember Rowena, don’t you?”

Castiel huffed and shook his head. “Rowena has proved herself to be useful on more than one occasion, yet not the point I’m trying to make. What I mean is it wouldn’t surprise me that Aurora thought it’d be a good idea to give your pompous ass a lesson.”

“You—you’re pompous!” Dean scoffed. “And anyway, what’s wrong with you? You think that’s what happened and you’re still defending her?”

“I’m not saying she did this. I’m only saying it’s a definite possibility. Although I fail to understand why she would have included me in this. I find I was rather agreeable.”

“Yeah, you were a real champ, Cas! What I wanna know is what can we do about it? If it’s a witch that did this…”

“I haven’t found a hex bag on my person yesterday. Did you?”

“Didn’t really look for one, so no.” He grabbed the plastic bag at their feet to go through their little belongings. “There’s nothing in my jacket.”

“Maybe it’s in the bag with my purchases. I left it in the car.”

Their plates were dropped on the table at that very moment. Robin left and came back immediately to refill their cups. “Would you like some ketchup? Hot sauce?”

“We’re good, thanks,” Dean said, unable to keep his heart from fluttering as he looked up at her. Leaving her and the Sonny’s home behind had left his teenage self heartbroken. And in some ways, he could still feel the aftershock from her being so close.

“Great… enjoy your meal, boys,” she said, smiling back at Dean before leaving them alone.

“She’s very pretty,” Castiel said, startling Dean who had been watching her walk away.

A bit of heat in his cheeks, Dean turned back around and nodded before attacking his breakfast. This shit fest may have been a witchy nightmare, at least the food was awesome.

They gobbled up their meals in record time, eager to find out if they could try calling Sam or not. At this point, both were certain it wouldn’t be possible, in which case they needed to start walking to escape this hell hole before night came.

After paying for their meals, Dean’s heart sank when he noticed all he had left were five dollars and some change.

“You don’t have money on you, do you?” Dean asked Castiel who had to check his wallet to know. It wasn’t like he used money all that much.

“Twenty-four dollars.” He fished out a dollar bill and handed it to Dean. “Here. Now you have six dollars and some change. And I have twenty-three dollars.”

“You math skills are really on point, Cas. Why the hell do you—oh… the bet.” Dean chuckled as he handed the dollar back to Castiel. “Told ya, t’was about principle, not the money. Keep your damn dollar.”

“I insist. I am to understand that debts must be paid in full. It is a human courtesy.”

“Fine… thanks! So… off to the sheriff’s, then?”

“If it’s still the plan, yes?”

“It sure is… I can’t wait to see Jody. It’s been a while.”

“And what if it’s not her?”

Dean paused to open the door, taking a minute to think it over. 

“You know what, Cas? I really don’t think it’s gonna make that much of a difference if it’s not.”

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	10. Meet the Sheriff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Were you worried?
> 
> Did you think I had forgotten about you again?
> 
> Told you I wouldn’t do that… ;-)
> 
> I had stuff to do… I could have posted earlier, but I ran out of time again and knew I’d be back early enough to post the 10th chapter before the date changed to the 11th… (I am very much aware it’s not the case for everyone… what’s with the time differences, huh? Why can’t we all live at MY time? Be much more practical for ME! lol)
> 
> Of course, I’m only kidding. I really hope you’ll like this chapter. Don’t know if it shows (maybe not yet), but I’m having a whole lotta fun playing with our beloved characters. I think I might have said that already… meh, so what if I did? If that’s the case, then you’ll know I’m not talking out of my… hmm… my hat!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and as always, if you feel like sharing your thoughts and feelings, I’m all ears… I love to hear from you guys!
> 
> Take care, and I’ll be seeing you again tomorrow! :D
> 
> .

“Well, that’s not Jody.”

A million snarky replies went through Dean’s mind, but he decided against saying any of them. Instead, he just sent an aggravated look Castiel’s way before turning back to Victor Henriksen. Because of course the dead FBI agent would turn up as a small town sheriff. It made all the sense in the world.

Not.

“You know deputy Mills?” Henriksen asked Castiel, something Dean decided he better answer himself.

“We met her a long time ago. Don’t think she’d remember us.”

As he said that, Jody Mills came through the front door with non other than Donna Hanscum at her side. They glanced, nodded, and smiled at Dean and Castiel before walking in to disappear behind a set of revolving doors. It took a moment for Dean’s heart to decelerate; for a tiny second, he’d been convinced they’d known who he was.

The sheriff followed Dean’s gaze, still stuck on the door the women had gone through, and chuckled. “Would you rather talk to them? I could—”

“I don’t care,” Dean said, turning his attention back to Victor. “What I really need right now is either a way outta town, or a working phone. Actually, a working phone is my priority right now.”

“It’s everyone’s priority,” the sheriff said, his brows scrunched together. “Sadly, we have no ways to reach the outside world at the moment.”

“That’s impossible… you’re the fucking police, man.”

Victor shrugged. “I’m afraid human laws don’t govern those of nature, sir.”

“Well said,” Castiel supplied, which only served to irritate Dean even more.

“Even with your communications down, you should have a way to get to a major city, shouldn’t you?” He pushed down yet again how there shouldn’t be so much snow and kept going. “Some of these big trucks that go through snow like butter. You got one of those, right? What if there’s an emergency and—”

“I can assure you that we are very much equipped to face any type of emergency, sir.”

“Ah yeah? I doubt your little clinic there could handle an urgent case of appendectomy. You’d need a legit hospital for that. Or, you know, what if someone needs a triple bypass?”

Victor looked at Dean through thin slit eyes. “Are you or your friend in urgent need of an appendectomy or triple bypass?”

“Well… no! Those were just examples. What I mean is—”

“Glad to know you get to enjoy our little town some more, then. I’m told you are renting a room at Ellen’s? She’s a great lady, ain’t she?”

Dean clenched his jaw to refrain from biting the sheriff’s head off. He decided he better play the amenable host instead and nodded. “Yeah… she’s great.” He took a calming breath and offered the man a smile he hoped looked sincere enough. “Say, with all that’s been happening, I still don’t know the name of your town. It’s not even on your station’s door, or any other shop for that matter.”

It made the sheriff chuckle. “Why would we write the name on our doors, we know where we are.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know… care to tell me?”

“Of course, sorry about that. Gentlemen, I officially welcome you to Love, the best little town you’ll ever visit.”

“Love? Seriously? And what state is that in?”

The smile that split Victor’s face at that moment sent shivers to Dean’s spine. “A very snowy one. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do,” he said before following where Jody and Donna had gone before.

“Come on, we’re leaving,” Dean hissed as he grabbed Castiel’s sleeve to pull him out of the station. He only let him go once outside, not saying a word as to where they were headed and lead the way back to the auto shop. Just like Bobby had said, the place was closed, but Dean couldn’t have cared less.

He walked to the enclosure where the Impala had been towed. He considered the tall fence and took off his mittens to start climbing over it.

“I don’t think this is necessary,” he heard Castiel say. He turned around to tell him that hell yeah, it was fucking necessary, when he saw the angel holding the fence’s door open.

“Got your mojo back?” he asked as he jumped back onto the ground.

“No need, it wasn’t locked.” And yeah, maybe Castiel had a reason to look so smug. Still Dean huffed and walked in, not ready to give him the satisfaction.

“What are we doing here?”

“If we know where we are, then we’ll know which way to start walking,” Dean said as he popped the trunk open and opened the not-so-secret compartment. He found his father’s old travel book at the very bottom.

He smiled, excited to be able to give Sam an earful about how Dean had been right to refuse to get rid of it. It was outdated, no doubt about that, but not so much that this place wouldn’t be in it, would it? He grabbed John’s old compass as well, ready to tell Castiel to bite him if he so much as said a word about it.

He had just shut the trunk closed when they heard Bobby’s voice.

“You couldn’t wait for us to be open, now could ya?”

The man stood in the frame of the garage’s side door, holding a truncated shotgun. It may have been pointing at the ground now, Dean knew it had to have been on them just a second earlier.

“I forgot to take something from my car yesterday. Sorry if we woke you.”

“Didn’t wake me, but I could’a shot ya, you know… so, next time—”

“Yeah, got it. We’ll wait for the place to be opened.” Dean followed Castiel out of the courtyard and closed the door. “See you next Monday,” he called out before disappearing from Bobby’s sight.

“Didn’t find a hex bag among my purchases,” Castiel announced as they walked back toward Hurley street. Dean hummed in assent as he read through the list of town names at the end of the book, only to find Love wasn’t such a weird name for a town after all.

“Huh… there’s six towns called Love. The closest one to where we were is in Illinois, but I don’t see how we could have made it all the way over there.”

“Maybe it was just the closest place to where we had the accident,” Castiel offered while Dean flipped the pages to the concording map.

“Impossible, Cas,” he groaned after finding it. “It’s too far, and I wasn’t even driving that way.”

“What’s your explanation then?”

Dean slammed the book closed. “The only logical explanation is that it’s a new town that’s not in the book. Or that it’s so fucking small that it didn’t make it in.”

“What do you propose we do?”

“Walking’s still the plan… and if we go with the fact that we’re in stupid Love, Illinois, then I say we walk north. There’s another town, I’d say it’s about two hours out, or maybe three in that damn snow. Care to try?”

While Castiel nodded and started walking, Dean tried to ignore how, according to the map, none of the streets in Love, Illinois matched the ones they’d encountered so far. Then again, street names could change, right? And anyway, walking east had led nowhere, so they could as well try going north.

After three hours of apparently getting nowhere, Castiel started voicing his doubts. It took another hour for Dean to start accepting defeat and agree to turn back around.

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	11. Back to the Roadhouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are getting interesting, if I can say so myself. It may be subtle, but it’s there.
> 
> I like subtle. I like subdued. I like the thrill of the wait. I’m a damn tease, if you wanna know everything.
> 
> Told ya at the start, it’s in the tags… it’s a slooooooooow burn type of story. They’re my favorite. You know, the kind where all you wanna do is slap the characters over the head just so they’d get a damn clue already… yeah… that’s the stuff!!!
> 
> Still… as I said, things are starting to get interesting… I think. I hope you’ll like this new chapter.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and drop me a line if you feel like it… I’d love to know what you think.
> 
> Hope to see you again tomorrow! :D
> 
>  
> 
> .

This time, when Dean and Castiel walked through the doors of the Roadhouse, everyone greeted them as if they’d been regulars. Which, to some extent, they might had become without wanting to. It still felt weird enough for Dean to just give a general wave around before going to see Ellen.

“Is the room still available?” he asked, making her quirk an eyebrow. “I mean, we didn’t discuss anything other than last night, so—”

“It’s not like you boys can go anywhere yet, can you? The room’s yours as long as you need it.”

Dean nodded his thanks and followed Castiel toward the back of the bar and up to their room.

“We should try walking south tomorrow,” Dean said as he took his winter gear off.

“I think this is pointless, Dean,” Castiel replied, already hanging his own clothes in the closet. He handed a plastic hanger to Dean. “We clearly aren’t in Illinois.”

“Yeah, I get that… we still gotta be somewhere, though. There has to be another town close by. This is America, for fuck’s sake!”

“That’s just it… I don’t think it is America.”

Dean came to stand before Castiel, crossing his arms and ignoring the offered hanger. “What do you mean by that?”

“I’m afraid we might be in a different realm altogether.”

“What? Like that place mom disappeared into? You think Jack could have—”

“No! This has nothing to do with Jack. And I don’t think we’re in an alternate universe either. I’m talking about a realm.”

“And the difference is?”

Castiel walked past Dean to start putting the hunter’s winter clothes on the hanger. He didn’t respond before being done putting everything in the closet.

“Realms would be in the same reality as ours, only hidden from one another. Think of it as many layers within one world. Of course, alternate realities would have their own realms, but this is beside the point.”

Dean squinted at the angel. As much as he hated to think about it, this felt all too familiar.

“Like the fairy realm?”

“Indeed… fairy realms would be some of those.”

“Son of a bitch!”

Without waiting for Castiel, Dean stomped out and downstairs. He walked to the bar to grab a salt shaker and unscrew the top. “Hey! Ellen! Watch this!” he shouted, pouring the salt on the floor the moment she turned to him.

“What the hell’s the matter with you?” she yelled back. “What would you do that for? Are you wrong in the head?” she said, coming from behind the bar with a hand broom and dust pan she shoved at Dean’s chest. “Now you cleanup your mess, fill that salt shaker back up and say you’re sorry, you hear?”

From the corner of his eye, he saw Jo drop a box of salt on the bar, smirking. He swallowed… they were not fairies then. “I’m sorry, Ellen,” he said as he knelt to sweep the salt into the pan. 

She took it back from him to empty the mess in the bin, her lips pursed. “I think I’m being nice to you here, I’d expect you to be nice back.”

“Yeah… I know… I just…” Dean didn’t even try to find an explanation, because there couldn’t be one. He stopped speaking and refilled the salt shaker before walking back to the table Castiel now sat at, ignoring the other patrons staring at him.

“If you’d told me what you intended to do, I could have told you it wouldn’t work,” Castiel said in a low voice. “Fairies won’t care about counting grains of salt or sugar in their own realm.” He glanced around the room, prompting people to look away. “If this is indeed where we are, now they know we know, or that we at least suspect as much.”

“So what now? Because, last time I crossed into the fairy realm, it wasn’t anything like that.”

“You did? When was that?”

Dean winced, not liking to think about that particular time of his life, and he knew Castiel didn’t either. Sam being soulless and Castiel being on his way to let the leviathans out of Purgatory hadn’t been a nice time for anyone.

“Many years ago, after Sam came back from the cage. We went looking into some disappearances and, well… it looked a whole lot like alien abductions. Turned out to be fairies taking first born males to service the king of fairies or something.”

“Yes, Oberon is quite fond of enslaving human males.” Castiel tilted his head. “Did you—”

“Nope! No servicing happened. I got taken, took out my gun out and started shooting… they sent me right—hey, what if—”

“This is not Oberon’s realm,” Castiel said as he dropped a steadying hand over Dean’s. “And you saw Bobby earlier, right? He had a shotgun so I doubt trying to shoot your way out of here will do any good.”

“But—”

“But nothing. Until we know exactly who or what we’re dealing with, we should stay put. Being hasty will only make matters worse.”

As he spoke, Castiel’s thumb rubbed the back of Dean’s hand. It didn’t matter that he found it rather soothing, Dean still felt the need to clear his throat and take his hand back.

“All right,” Dean eventually said, cutting through his own aura of embarrassment. “You know all about this stuff so you should be able to determine what realm this is, right?”

“Most certainly. It’ll be harder without access to the host, as I can’t see the truth behind the illusion, but I’m confident we’ll know soon enough.”

Castiel leaned back on his chair when Jo walked up to them. “Mom made her famous meatloaf, if you like that sorta thing,” she said as she dropped menus on the table. “Something to drink? A whole bottle of whiskey, maybe?” she asked, once more giving Dean a crooked smile.

“Nah… I’ll have a beer. Tap’s great, thanks.”

“As long as you don’t ask me to bring you the keg,” she quipped before turning to Castiel. “You? Still all about coffee?”

“No, I’ll have a beer as well. And I’ll try that meatloaf.”

“Great. Same for you?” she asked Dean who pursed his lips. 

“Nah… bacon cheeseburger and fries for me. Thanks, Jo.”

She took the menus back and left, Castiel soon leaning over the table again. “First thing we need to determine is why this place is exclusively filled with people you know. What’s even the point if you can’t interact with them the same way you once did?”

“So you think this thing is about me, then?”

“Right now, it’s the only thing we know for sure. This town is inhabited by people you once held dear, or still do. What else could it be about?”

“Just wanna make one thing clear, though… I didn’t date or become friends with everyone here. Some people I met only once.”

“Yet, you remember them.”

“Most of them, yeah. Doesn’t mean I liked them more than the next person.”

Castiel sat back again when two frosted mugs of beer were placed on their table by Ellen.

“Say… you know that thing I said yesterday, about you maybe helping me?”

Dean tensed up; there is was. “Yeah?”

“There’s been a whole lotta snow and my roof is flat… see what I’m getting at?”

Dean glanced at Castiel who looked just as puzzled, making Ellen sigh.

“Means if that snow isn’t shovelled off my roof, it might just collapse under the weight. The forecast says more is coming. It’d help me a whole lot if you boys could take care of this for me.” She smiled and pointed her thumb toward the bar where Bobby and Rufus were chatting with Garth. “Usually Bobby does this for me but he’s getting old. What if he falls and breaks his hip, you know?”

“Eat me, Ellen!” the older man yelled, to which Ellen responded with her middle finger and a chuckle. “Whatta ya say, boys? Care to help a lady out? You know, after that little stunt you just pulled…”

“It’ll be our pleasure,” Castiel said. “Do you need to do this now or can we wait after dinner?”

She laughed, landing a hand over Castiel’s shoulder. “It’s not that urgent, so tomorrow’s fine. We’ll talk about it some more when we open tomorrow, I’ll show you where everything is. Oh, and your dinner’s on the house,” she added over her shoulder as she walked away.

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	12. The Second Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many good things in this chapter… a "new" character, a little action, a bit of a gay panic, and it’s the longest chapter so far. I thought you’d appreciate that.
> 
> Once more, I can’t seem to find any words other than what you’re about to read. I’ll at least thank you for reading, and maybe you should take a look at the tags, added some things you might not like… (nothing major, mostly a mention of Castiel’s "thing" with the reaper, and the aforementioned gay panic.)
> 
> I hope you’ll like this, and I’ll see you again tomorrow! :D

Once more, Castiel and Dean didn’t hang around the bar much longer after finishing their meals, bringing a couple of beers upstairs instead.

“I think we should have stayed at the bar,” Castiel said once they were back in their room. “Talking to people might help determine the reason of our presence here.”

“You think they’ll come out and tell you what’s going on? I really doubt that, man.”

“It is unlikely, I agree.” Castiel sighed as he toed off his boots. He went to sit on the bed, leaning against the headboard with his wool socks feet up on the mattress.

Dean toed off his own boots and chose to sit in the armchair, his own socked feet propped on the bed. “Say… we’re still assuming it was Jack that woke you up in the Empty, right?”

“We are, yes. Although, getting out of there was solely due to my abrasive personality, or so it appears.” A small smile tugged at Castiel’s lips.

“Couldn’t be prouder,” Dean said, a teasing smile on his own lips. “But, if Jack reached you all the way to the Empty, wouldn’t it be fair to think he could reach you here as well?”

“I believe he could, yes.” Pensive, Castiel took a sip of his beer before speaking again. “The thing is I myself wouldn’t be able to reach out to him. And if he doesn’t know that we’re missing, then—”

“We’ve been gone for two days now. Pretty sure Sam’s out there looking for us already.”

Castiel sighed again. “That’s if time moves the same way here as it does over there.”

“Like in hell?”

“Something to that effect, yes. Some realms move faster, some slower, some are the same. It could have only been a couple of hours back home.” He swallowed thickly. “It could have been years…”

“Great!”

Dean leaned back in the chair after downing his beer. He exhaled, itching for something else to drink. He could always go back downstairs and get himself another bottle of cheap booze, but it’d mean he’d have to confront all those people. And he really didn’t feel like doing that right now.

“Can’t believe there’s not even a TV in here,” he said after some time, already bored out of his skull. “Not that there’d be cable, I guess…” 

He thought about the computer he left charging in his bedroom back at the bunker. Of course he hadn’t brought it, they were supposed to only be gone for a couple of hours, not days.

“Books would be good too,” Castiel provided. “Reading is a great way to pass the time.”

_ Sex is an even better way to pass the time, _ Dean almost said. He felt the tip of his ears get warmer at the idea that Castiel could take that as an invitation. 

Would he, though? He knew Castiel had popped his cherry with that reaper chick, but she’d been a chick, so…

Dean shook his head to get rid of that line of thoughts. He had to be especially bored to start wondering if Castiel would be interested in getting with Dean – getting with him in the biblical sense. Not that he himself wanted to, because Castiel was a dude and Dean wasn’t into dudes, but—

“What?”

Castiel speaking startled Dean into the realization that he’d been staring.

“Nothing… I—sorry, I zoned out. All that walking, and I get much of a shuteye last night… maybe we should just go to sleep.”

“I agree,” Castiel said as he got off the bed to take his pants, suit jacket, and tie off, going to hang them in the closet.

“We really need to get some clothes… you know, pajamas, underwear, a couple days worth of changing clothes. If we’re to be stuck here for at least a week…”

“I agree. I’ve only seen Lisa’s store, though. Would you be okay to go back? Or you tell me what to buy and I’ll go by myself”

Dean shrugged as he too decided he should at least try being comfortable, taking his jeans off and dropping them on the armchair. He climbed into bed to lie with his back turned to Cas and as close a possible to the edge.

“I guess. It’s not like we have much choice, do we?”

“No. We don’t,” Castiel agreed as he got in bed behind Dean. He took his time getting comfortable, or maybe it just felt that way to Dean.

“Just keep to your side, huh?” Dean made sure to remind Castiel who, like he’d done the night before, huffed back at him.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have me sleeping in the chair?” Castiel asked after a while. “You’re barely breathing you’re so uncomfortable.”

Dean swallowed, hating to admit that Castiel was right. He forced himself to breathe somewhat normally again. “Nah, don’t worry about it. This whole thing is making me crazy, has nothing to do with you.”

“Are you sure?” Castiel said as he moved around.

Dean’s breath hitched when he felt Castiel’s hand slide over his shoulder. “Turn around, Dean.”

“Nope. I’m good. Go to sleep.”

“Please.”

And hell if Castiel’s pleading tone didn’t crumble Dean’s resolve. He rolled his eyes and turned around to find himself facing the angel. His breath hitched again when he noticed how the moonlight reflected in Castiel’s eyes. If he had sappy tendencies, he could have said they looked like sapphires.

“I can’t help but think that you may be frustrated with me, and I fail to understand why.” Castiel sighed, his liquid eyes boring into Dean’s. “Did I do something—”

“Of course not. This is just a shitty situation. Don’t worry about it.”

This time, when Castiel sighed, it was out of pure frustration. “I don’t know why you’d rather lie to me, but I’m not having it.” His grip on Dean’s shoulder tightened. “You very well know secrets have always been problematic between us, between you and Sam, even with your mom… you once told me that humans lied to get what they wanted. What is it you want Dean? What is it that’s making you think lying to—”

Dean shutting Castiel up with his own lips hadn’t been planned. He’d even go as far as swearing that it hadn’t been his own doing. He jerked himself backward almost immediately, falling off the bed in the process.

“I—I’m sorry—I didn’t—it wasn’t—” Dean tried to explain, struggling to get back on his feet. Whoever had brought them to this place had decided to mess with them. There was no other reason that could have made Dean kiss Castiel just now. None whatsoever.

“What are you doing?” Castiel asked when Dean started getting dressed. “You’re leaving?”

“I need a drink,” Dean only said, refusing to look at the angel. “By myself,” he added when Castiel threw the covers aside.

“I’m not letting you out of my sight,” Castiel argued, going to the closet to grab his pants. “Not as long as we don’t know what’s going on.”

Knowing he’d never be able to convince Castiel to stay put – mostly because he himself wouldn’t let him leave on his own – Dean didn’t respond and walked out of the room. At least he could keep some kind of front by not waiting for him.

When he got downstairs, Dean was surprised to see much more people than when they’d left. Some he’d seen around town, some he was seeing for the first time – in this place, anyway. And like it had done so many times since his arrival in this town, his heart leaped. The internal jolt had been prompted by the sight of a head of hair in a particular shade of red.

“Charlie,” he said under his breath. He could have started weeping when he saw her throw her head back in laughter. Before he could even think of it, he had gone to sit next to her at the bar.

“Hey,” he heard himself say. All he wanted to do was take her in his arms. It might have shown in his face somehow because when she turned to him, she tilted her head and gave him some kind of pitying pout.

“Dude, I’m sorry, but… I’m into the ladies.” She offered him her hand to shake. “I’m Charlie… you’re the new guy, right? Dean?”

Taking the offered hand, Dean nodded, not about to explain how he already knew about her sexual preferences. Then something hit him; he couldn’t remember telling anyone his name. Which, in itself, didn’t make a lick of sense now that he thought about it.

“Yeah… I’m Dean. How d’you know?”

“News travel fast here, although I can’t say who told me. We all just know by now, I guess.”

“All of you guys know our names?”

“New people get into town, it’s bound to be all we talk about for a bit.”

Ellen appeared to drop a tumbler in front of Dean. “Whiskey?” she offered, already pouring the liquor. He nodded his thanks, not bothering to ask how she knew what he’d want. He downed the content while she stood there, refilling his glass the moment he put it down.

“Might as well leave the bottle, mom,” Jo quipped as she walked behind the bar, winking at Dean. It was enough to bring him back to that one and only kiss they shared. Would it ever have happened if she hadn’t been bleeding all over that store’s floor?

He drank the whole thing again and licked his lips. His gaze trailed over Jo’s own pink and glossed lips and he smiled; didn’t matter if it would happen through booze or by seducing her, he’d find a way to forget all about kissing his best friend.

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	13. Just Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can someone explain to me why I feel the urge to start cackling as if I was a demon jumping in a puddle of fire? Because that’s basically how I feel right now. It’s as if I’m super happy to be making our little ol' Dean Winchester uncomfortable… push him to the edge… you know?
> 
> As you might imagine, I’m a bit further into the story than you are, so I know stuff… and I’m starting to think I might have to up the rating at some point. I’m not saying I will, but let’s just say I may be toeing the line (not this chapter… later…)
> 
> Anyway. More stuff is happening… fun stuff, I think. Can you believe that we’re already half way there? I myself can’t really believe it, I’ll be honest. This month went by faaaaaaaaaast… it’s not over, but there’s not that many days left to buy Christmas gifts. As if I have time to do this… I’m WRITING here!!!
> 
> I really hope you’ll like this. Let me know what you think if you feel like it, I’d love to read you. 
> 
> Stay safe, and I’ll see you again tomorrow! :D
> 
> .

Maybe Dean had already been a bit tipsy because his game was very much off – didn’t matter that he’d only had four drinks so far. Maybe the booze in that realm was affecting him more than it should. Or maybe whatever creature Jo was didn’t know what flirting was.

Not only did she outright laughed at him, she even went as far as patting his cheek and calling him cute. The look on her face reminded him of that time he tried to give her the ‘last night on Earth’ speech. He shook his head at the memory and how it had turned out to actually be her last night, thanks to him and a damn pack of hellhounds.

Deflated, he settled back on his stool and glared at his reflection in the mirror behind the bar. He huffed then snapped his fingers to call upon Ellen, pointing to his glass when she looked his way. She complied, not without squinting at him. She didn’t need to say a single word for him to understand he was about to be cut off.

“What was the point of that?” Charlie said in his ear, startling him. He’d managed to forget she’d been there for a minute. He turned to his dead friend, his heart fluttering once more at the sight of her. Damn, did he miss that girl.

“What was the point of what?”

“You trying to get into Jo’s pants. With your boyfriend watching, no less. Is that some sort of kink between you guys?”

Sipping on his drink, Dean couldn’t help but choke at Charlie’s words. “What?”

Without answering, Charlie turned on her stool to not so discreetly point somewhere behind them. Dean turned to look where she pointed.

“What? Cas? Cas isn’t my boyfriend.” 

_ I kissed him, though. _

“We’re just friends.”

“You know nobody cares, right?” she replied with a glint in her eye. “I’m gay. Everyone knows and nobody cares. It may be a small town, they won’t mind about you guys either.”

“But I’m not,” Dean insisted in a hiss. Whatever had happened earlier, it had to have been some sort of enchantment. An enchantment Dean wouldn’t let affect him ever again.

“All right, whatever you say… you might wanna have some sort of chat with your ‘friend’ then, because he looks pretty miserable right now. If you’re not into him, he’s clearly into you.”

Dean resisted the urge to scoff at Charlie. Otherworldly creature or not, trying to explain about Castiel’s insistent gaze on him meant he’d have to tell her he’s an angel who thought he had to watch over Dean, and that they had sort of kissed by mistake less than an hour ago. And that last part wasn’t something he wished to revisit anytime soon.

“Nah, he’s not. He’s just super intense sometimes. He likes to stare.”

As he said that, Dean’s gaze shifted to the door opening on Sam the same way it did the night before. And like then, Dean couldn’t look away while his brother’s doppelganger put his coat on a hook before coming to drop a hand over Charlie’s shoulder and kiss her cheek.

“Hey, Charlie. You made a new friend?” Sam said, moving to stand closer to Dean and offer his hand in greeting. “My name’s Sam,” he said, shaking Dean’s hand. “Where’s your boyfriend?”

“Not—”

“He’s sitting over there, but they’re not boyfriends,” Charlie supplied, cutting Dean off. “If Dean hadn’t told me, I would have thought there’d been a bit of a lovers’ spat.”

“You know we don’t care that you’re gay, right?” Sam said, a wide smile splitting his face in two. “She’s gay,” he added, pointing his thumb at Charlie.

Once more, Dean found himself unable to think clearly. This was all too fucked up, and he knew about fucked up. Hell, he had a damn degree in fucked up crap.

“What the hell is this place? Why are you doing this to me?” he said after some time, startling both Sam and Charlie who had been chatting while Dean’s brain rebooted.

They both turned to him again, Charlie sipping on her pink drink through a straw, letting Sam answer. “Well… this his Harvelle’s Roadhouse. And my opinion is that you’re doing this to yourself. Denying who you are isn’t healthy, Dean.”

“Not what I mean, and you know it,” Dean said in a growl. 

The next second, Ellen was landing a soft hand on his as she placed two clean tumblers on the bar, followed by a small bottle of a much better brand of whiskey. “You seem to be very much on edge, Dean. Why don’t you take this upstairs and take a load off. Whatever’s happened between you two can’t be all that bad, can it?”

And there went the brain again. Dean couldn’t help gaping at Ellen, then at the hand she held over his. “What?”

“I know you boys are eager to get back home already, but don’t take it out on each other.” She patted his hand before letting it go. “What you don’t wanna do is go to bed pissed at one another. My own marriage might not have been perfect, but this was a rule Bill and I never broke.”

“They’re not together, Ellen,” Charlie provided once more on Dean’s behalf. “They’re friends.”

Ellen gave Dean a suspicious once over and shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, the rule still applies, even between friends.” She slid the glasses and bottle closer to Dean before going back to chat to Bobby and Rufus at the other end of the bar.

“She’s right, you know,” Sam said while Charlie gave him an energetic nod. “Eileen and I, we do the same thing. We never go to bed mad.”

“You’re with Eileen?” Dean said, unable to keep his voice from breaking. His Sam had been devastated when they’d learned she had passed. Them being both alive and in a relationship right now would very much have been enough to think he was serving as a djinn’s buffet once more.

“Excuse me,” he mumbled as he grabbed the glasses and bottle. “Come on,” he told Castiel as he walked past, which earned them a couple of cat calls he chose to ignore.

“What’s going on?” Castiel asked, climbing the stairs behind him.

Dean didn’t answer before they were back in their room. He dropped the glasses on the dresser and opened the bottle to pour some in each.

“It’s not another realm, Cas. We’ve been caught by a djinn, I’m sure of it.”

“No. We haven’t.”

“Says you…”

“Do you still think I might not be me?”

“Are you? It wouldn’t surprise me if you weren’t. T’would explain how you seem to be adapting so well.”

“You think I’m adapting well? Have you even been paying attention?” 

Castiel took a step further and snatched the glass Dean held to slam it on the dresser. “I’m powerless, Dean. Didn’t think that would happen ever again, yet here I am. Not only that, I’m also stuck somewhere I can’t leave with someone who doesn’t want me there. I’m a prisoner of this weak and treacherous pile of meat and I can’t get out. I should have listened and gone back to sleep in the Empty. At least I wouldn’t be here letting you down again.”

Dean took a step forward, bringing him close enough that their chests almost touched.

“You think I don’t want you here?”

Castiel sighed, but didn’t move away from him. “Not the point I’m trying to make.”

“What’s your point, then?”

“My point is… my point is this,” Castiel said in a stammer, cradling Dean’s face with both hands before landing soft lips on him. 

Dean’s throat closed up. He accepted the kiss that probably didn’t last more than two seconds. And if neither of them pressed further to deepen it, they didn’t move away either. Until Castiel let Dean go to sigh against his mouth. He opened his eyes to lock them onto Dean’s.

“This… this is my point.”

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	14. Mom & Pop’s

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I wondered yesterday if I had evil tendencies, I can proudly say today that I was given proof of that.
> 
> This new chapter has 1666 words… you see it, right? The number of the beast (plus a thousand, but who’s counting?)
> 
> You guys like sexual tension? Here you go, bathe in this sea of thick and gooey tension. With a side serving of Winchester stubbornness, of course. I also sprinkled a bit of sassiness over everything… for flavor.
> 
> I don’t know about you, but I’m sensing that Cas is slowly getting fed up with Dean. You know, there’s hung up, and then there’s HUNG UP!
> 
> Don’t you worry, though… I promised fluff and happy endings, and that’s what you’re getting. I just like my rides a little bumpy!
> 
> I hope you’ll like this new chapter. And thanks again for reading, kudo'ing and sharing your thoughts and feeling.
> 
> I’ll see you again tomorrow. Take care of yourselves in the meantime! :D
> 
> .

Falling asleep that night came at a surprising price, or so Dean chose to believe. They hadn’t kissed anymore, nor took things further, mostly thanks to Dean’s own internal freak out. They’d even gone to sleep the way they did before, each on their side of the bed, back to back with as much distance as possible between them.

And once more, Dean hadn’t been able to sleep, his mind – and heart – going a thousand miles an hour. It wasn’t until the noise downstairs had started dwindling down that Castiel had moved his body around to line up against Dean’s, front to back.

“Is this all right?” he’d said in Dean’s ear, settling as the big spoon and wrapping an arm around Dean’s midsection.

Dean’s first thought had been to get off the bed and go sleep in the chair. 

His second had been to push Castiel off of him and banish him to the chair. 

The third one had been to object at being the little spoon and force Castiel to switch positions.

Yet, he did none of those things and instead elected to stay put. “Yeah… s’fine,” he’d answered, ignoring the urge to intertwine his fingers with the ones resting on his belly. When was the last time he’d even been snuggled to sleep? It had to have been Lisa.

This was Dean’s last thought as he closed his eyes. The next thing he knew, the sun had come up and Castiel was walking back into the room after a trip to the bathroom. 

“Good morning, Dean,” Castiel said as he climbed back into bed.

Except the light of day made Dean too self-conscious for his own good.

“Gonna go take a shower,” he said as he left the bed, looking anywhere but at Castiel. He didn’t have a change of clothes, or even soap for that matter, but he didn’t care. Standing under a hot spray for some time would do wonders in cleaning his thoughts.

Sadly, the shower didn’t do much to help. He did all he could to try and steer his thoughts away from Castiel’s mouth on his. When his erection became impossible to ignore, he did his best to summon the best fantasies he’s ever had, most having to do with petite asian girls with glorious sets of breasts.

Still, when he came all over the shower curtain, he had to bite onto his fist to keep from calling upon Castiel. No matter how hard he’d tried to control his fantasies, whoever he’d been thinking of would morph into the angel. So he stopped trying and let his mind wander, the image of Castiel on his knees and sucking him off all he had needed to climax.

From that moment on, Dean’s shame hung like a dark cloud over his head. And anytime Castiel tried to ask what was going on, Dean pretty much bit his head off. So Castiel stopped asking, confining himself into a solemn type of mood.

The day didn’t get much better, mostly due to Dean outrageous flirting with Robin while having breakfast at Cuss’s. Her confusion over the ordeal – sending worried glances toward Cas – only served to make Dean’s grow darker. Everyone here thought he and Cas were gay for each other and it was pissing him off.

Before being able to go back to Harvelle’s – they had a roof to shovel, thanks to Cas – they stopped by Lisa’s store. Like the first time, Ben came to greet them when they entered.

“Welcome to  _ Second Chances _ . Glad to see you again.”

Castiel responded while Dean only nodded. “Glad to see you too. We’re looking for clothes.”

“What type of clothes? We have a lot of stuff. Second hand, but nice and clean.”

“We need pajamas, underwear—”

“The underwear… it’s not second hand, is it?” Dean couldn’t help but ask, which made Ben chuckle.

“All of that stuff is new; socks, boxers, bras… nobody’s worn them before.”

“We’ll also need changes of clothes,” Castiel said next. “Also… you don’t happen to sell personal hygiene stuff, do you? Like toothbrushes, or soap?”

Ben responded as he lead them toward the men’s section of the store. “Nah, we don’t. For this you’d have to go to  _ Mom & Pop’s _ . They sell whatever we don’t; soap, shampoo, toothbrushes. It’s also the town’s drugstore.”

“ _ Mom & Pop’s _ ? That’s the name?” Dean asked, to which Ben nodded. “And where is that?”

“Right next to the clinic, you can’t miss it.”

They did a quick job at going through the racks and selecting basic clothes; pants, shirts, pajamas, sweaters, and underwear. More than once, Dean had felt the need to veto Castiel’s choices, not that it had mattered. Castiel still kept the clothes he’d chosen for himself, plus two knitted Christmas sweaters, arguing they looked warm and festive. Dean thought they looked horrendous, but decided to let it go. It wasn’t as if they’d be keeping that crap once back home, were they?

This time, when Lisa came to ring their items in, she took Dean’s credit card info. The weirdest thing had to be how she didn’t care that the name on it didn’t match. She noticed, all right, but all she did was read the name out loud before winking at him and writing the infos down.

They still had an hour to go before being allowed back into Harvelle’s, so they walked up the hill toward the clinic. As Ben had said, they found the drugstore right next to it. Dean took in the wooden sign with  _ Mom & Pop’s _ carved in cursive letters, dread once more settling low in his gut.

Castiel turned to send a worried gaze Dean’s way when he didn’t hear him walking behind him anymore.

“Dean?”

“ _ Mom & Pop’s _ … you know what that means, right?”

“You think your parents will be in that store?”

Dean’s gaze met Castiel’s for the first time since the previous night. “I don’t think it… I know it.”

“I can go in by myself, Dean. Just tell me what we need.”

It didn’t matter that he was nervous as hell, Dean still couldn’t help being excited at the thought of seeing his father again. His mom too, of course, but he hadn’t seen his dad in so long…

“Come on,” Castiel said in an understanding tone, holding his hand open for Dean to take. He aborted the movement when Dean shoved both hands in his pockets and started walking. Castiel sighed, but said nothing and followed him inside the store.

Finding John and Mary chatting and smiling while restocking shelves made Dean’s blood curd. They both turned to the door when they heard it chime, Dean’s heart now threatening to explode out of his chest.

“Welcome to  _ Mom & Pop’s _ ,” Mary said as she came to greet them, holding her hand out. “I’m Mary and this is my husband John. Dean and Castiel, am I right?”

Castiel nodded and shook her hand. “Yes… I am Castiel, and this is Dean.”

Dean could only watch, hating to see that look in her mom’s eyes again. She didn’t know him. She didn’t know he was her son. Still, seeing that same look on his father’s face had to be the absolute worst.

“What can we help you boys with?” John said as he too came to greet them. “Pretty much everything you need, we got,” he added, offering them a red plastic basket.

Castiel took it. “Can you tell me where your personal hygiene products are?” he asked before being lead in the appropriate aisle by – smiling, dear god – John.

“Is there anything else I could help you with?” Mary asked when Dean didn’t follow them. He could only shrug, worried that if he tried to speak, he’d no doubt sound like a moron. 

“I know you boys are stuck here so if you need any medication refilled, I could probably help you out.” She smiled and winked. “Just don’t try and ask for morphine or shit like that… I’m no dummy.”

“No meds,” Dean eventually blurted out.

Mary nodded and looked back to where her husband and Castiel had disappeared. “Some supplies for you boys, then?” she then said, a soft smile on her lips. “Follow me. We have quite the collection.”

“Huh?” Dean provided, following his mother toward the other side of the store. He felt his whole face turn crimson red when he realized what she had meant.

Gaping at the display in front of him, Dean couldn’t find the words. Not only had his mother lead him to some sort of adult section, she was now holding a purple box of Astroglide. He didn’t need to be a genius to know what she wanted to imply.

“We’re not together,” was the only thing Dean could think to say, making her chuckle.

“My bad,” she said, putting the box back on the shelf. “Such a shame, though. You boys look quite cute together.”

“Cas?” Dean called out as she walked away, a little bit too loud. He tried to ignore the products around him, from the condoms to the ‘personal massagers’. “You done?”

“I just have a question Dean,” Castiel said right from behind him, making him jump. Dean turned around to see him holding two tubes of toothpaste. “Mint or cinnamon?”

“Mint. You done?”

“I prefer cinnamon,” Castiel said, dropping both tubes in the basket. He then noticed the display where Dean stood. “What’s this?” he asked, prompting Dean’s face to heat up again.

“Nothing… Mom—Mary was just confused. Let’s go.”

Dean went to stand at the cash register with Castiel on his heels. He kept his eyes outside the window while Mary rang the items. And when Dean handed her the credit card with the different name on it, she had a reaction similar to Lisa’s. Apparently, nobody in this place cared about credit card fraud.

“Come on,” Dean said as he grabbed the bag. “We got a roof to clear up.”

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	15. Almost Christmas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think the guys are a bit too "calm" and "compliant" in the face of that little problem they’re facing, you may be right…
> 
> Is there a reason for that? There must be… will you know today if there’s a reason? Or what it is? Nope!
> 
> I just like to tease… and I’m not really sorry. Plus, I don’t know about you, but who’d wanna leave a "magical" place with all the people they love just hanging out? I know I would.
> 
> And like family, the inhabitants of that village seem to like to make Dean real uncomfortable. That’s what family does, right? They are annoying to the point where you wish they’d leave you alone, yet you’re super glad they’re in your life… not that you’ll tell them, of course!
> 
> Well… that’s my experience, anyway! lol Only trying to give Dean some sort of family life right now. He deserves it, don’t you think?
> 
> (And… well… if you thought we’d seen all the people that were to be seen, have I got some news for you… more are coming!!!)
> 
> So here’s today’s chapter, I really hope you’ll have as much fun reading it as I had writing it. As always, I’m super glad you’re there and, if you feel like dropping me a line, I’ll be ever more happy.
> 
> Take care, and see you again tomorrow! :D

Between the two of them, shoveling the snow off the roof took just a bit over an hour. And when they walked back into the bar, two bowls of hearty beef stew were waiting for them on the table next to the fireplace. This, and steaming mugs of—

“What’s this?” Dean asked after taking an experimental sniff. I smelled a little too fruity for him.

“Hot mulled cider… thought you boys would need some warming up,” Ellen explained after leading them to the table. Both Dean and Castiel nodded, humming in delight around their first bite of stew. Thirty minutes later, they were warm and sated, sipping on a second serving of cider while the fire roared in their backs.

“What if we tried to make one of them talk?” Dean said in a low voice when they were left alone in the main room. Ellen had gone back in the kitchen and Jo was nowhere to be seen. Even Ash hadn’t come down yet. Midday wasn’t the busiest of times at Harvelle’s, apparently.

“How do you mean?”

“We could isolate someone and find a way to make them talk… you know…”

“Torture them?”

“We might not have to go that far, but it’s not off the table.”

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea, Dean,” Castiel said as he sipped on his cider. “Everybody’s been delightful to us.”

“Delightful or not, we’re being kept prisoners. You know that, right?”

“Until we know where we are, we can’t really assume anything. Maybe we really are guests and everybody is stuck here just like we are. And we did have an accident, you remember that, don’t you? I’m inclined to think they saved our lives and that, maybe, there’s a reason why they can’t send us back just yet.”

When Ellen walked back into the room, Dean leaned over the table, his voice only a murmur. “Maybe, but… doesn’t mean we wouldn’t know how to leave. We could help… I still say we should start asking. With force if needed.”

Castiel sighed and also leaned forward, his forehead almost touching Dean’s. “Who do you propose we ‘interrogate’?”

“I don’t know… we should wait until later, when people have been drinking. They’ll be easier to—”

“I think it should be Sam,” Castiel said, locking eyes with Dean. “You know him best, so it should be easy for you to make him talk.”

“I won’t be hurting my brother, not even a fake version of him.”

“Which is exactly why we should be talking to him. Starting to hurt people won’t be helpful at all.”

Huffing, Dean sat backward again, shaking his head. “That’s a shit idea, Cas.”

“I disagree.”

And of course Castiel would disagree, because he had such a knack for getting the best ideas. Instead of arguing, Dean decided to keep quiet. It didn’t matter what Castiel said, Dean would corner whoever he wanted to and start questioning them. And Not-Sam or even Not-Charlie were out of the question.

They had been sitting and glaring at one another for some time when Ash came down and dropped a huge cardboard box on a nearby table. Welcoming the distraction, Dean got up to go take a look while Jo too came from upstairs to drop a second box on the floor.

“What’s all this?” he asked, although the ‘Xmas Stuff’ written on the side of each boxes should have been enough clue.

“Christmas stuff,” Jo answered before going back where she’d come from.

“Forgot it we even were in December,” Dean said as he peaked inside the first box. He pulled out a string of lights tangled with silver tinsels. “Jesus…” he mumbled as he tried to untangle them.

“What are you doing?” Castiel asked, not moving from their table.

“This shit’s all messed up,” he said as he worked on a particularly stiff knot.

“I can see that, but why are you doing this?”

Dean shrugged, finally able to separate the lights from the tinsel. “What else am I gonna do?”

When Ash and Jo came back with more boxes, they found Dean and Castiel at the table with a pile of lights on one side and glittery tinsels on the other.

“Hey! You boys gunnin’ for my job, or what?” Ash asked, making Dean chuckle.

“Nah… I just like to fix stuff,” he explained. “Plus, I’m bored as shit, so…”

Jo opened the box she had just dropped to the floor and sighed. “Do you also like to hang stuff up? ‘Cause I really hate it!”

“Joanna Beth Harvelle! Tell me you’re not asking our guests to do your job,” Ellen said, walking back in the main room.

Pointing at Dean and Cas, Jo objected. “They started it. Plus, aren’t we supposed to keep guests happy? I mean… if they like hanging up Christmas decorations, who am I to keep them from—”

“They’ve helped you enough. Back to work!”

Not about to be the cause of more family drama, Dean gave Jo an apologetic look and went back to sit at their table, Cas following closely behind. 

“I wasn’t lying… I’m bored,” Dean said after some time. “I think I should go upstairs and take a legit shower… you know, the kind with soap and shampoo and stuff. And then put on some clean clothes. That’ll be nice.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Castiel said as he got up.

“I meant me, Cas. I’m going to take a shower.”

“I know that… I just agree I should take one as well once you’re done.”

“You can wait here for me to be done, can’t you?”

Castiel rolled his eyes. “The bathroom is at the end of the hall. Why would you even care that I’m in the bedroom while you bathe?”

Dean watched Castiel walk away, trying to find a good enough reason not to follow. Being in that bedroom together had only been problematic so far. Hell, if it hadn’t been this cold outside, Dean would have opted to spend the night in the Impala. He sure would have slept better on the backseat of his Baby.

When he finally went back to the room, it was to find Castiel had emptied both bags on the bed. Everything they’d bought was in disarray and it made Dean itching to put it all away nice and proper.

“Which sweater do you prefer?” Castiel asked, holding the two knitted horrors in his hands. There was no way Dean could ever prefer either of them.

“I don’t care,” he said, grabbing one of the packages of underwear to tear it open. They weren’t his usual kind – apparently this place didn’t believe in boxer briefs – but they’d be good enough. At least they were black, because white briefs wasn’t something Dean could ever do.

He picked one of the faded pair of jeans he’d chosen for himself. They didn’t look too worn out, yet just comfortable enough. He pursed his lips at the pants Castiel had chosen to buy; dark red chinos and navy khakis. What did the guy have against jeans, huh?

After grabbing a black tee and gray henley, he started going through the hygiene stuff. When he noticed the familiar purple box, Dean’s felt all the blood rush to his face again.

“What the hell is this?” he said through his teeth.

“What is what?” Castiel asked back, coming to stand next to him. He looked at the items on the bed, failing to understand what Dean could be referring to.

“What’s with the lube, Cas? The purple box?” Dean explained, pointing at it. Castiel took the box, turning it in his hands before taking the bottle out.

“It says here this is personal lubricant. Water based. Liquid,” Castiel provided. “I don’t recall buying this.” He dropped the box and bottle on the bed to grab another box, this one black with golden writings. “I don’t remember buying those either,” he said, showing Dean the pack of magnum condoms. “Did you—”

When Dean slapped the box out of Castiel’s hand, it had been an unconscious gesture. Just as out of his control as his dick filling up, something he knew he wouldn’t be able to ignore for very long. 

“That was my mom thinking she’s real funny,” Dean said before fleeing the room to go hide in the bathroom.

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	16. Bring on the Eggnog

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is it they say in that Thrones show? Christmas is coming…?
> 
> Anyway!! Things are getting really interesting… well… again, I’m a bit further into it than all of you, but you can take my word for it… things are happening… situations are awkward… people don’t know what to do or what to think.
> 
> It’s GLORIOUS. (please excuse my ego… it’s very pleased right now and kind of a brat)
> 
> And… well… decided to go and play around with the characters’ personal relationships with one another. It’s nothing nobody as heard of already, I just find it funny to confront Dean AND Castiel with it… one in particular… you’ll know it when you see it.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and commenting, every message is like a Christmas gift to me!!! I really hope you’ll like this new one, and I’ll see you again tomorrow!
> 
> Have fun, be safe, love each other, and… hmm… y’all be merry now, ya hear?
> 
> .

When Dean and Castiel walked back downstairs around dinner time, it was as if they were in a different place again. There wasn’t an inch of the room that didn’t look like the Christmas spirit had puked all over it. Even the tables had tablecloths hanging over them; red and glittery tablecloths.

“This is beautiful,” Castiel breathed as he went to sit at their usual table. Because, yeah, they pretty much had a usual table now.

“I find it a bit much,” Dean countered, pursing his lips at the plastic wreath candle holder. He looked up at Castiel and smirked. “Shouldn’t you be pissed that Christmas is all about shiny crap and shit? Doesn’t have much to do with your lil’ buddy Jesus anymore.”

“Quite honestly, December 25th has nothing to do with Jesus to begin with. I still think it’s a very nice holiday. The spirit of Jesus is present enough for this day and age, I imagine.”

“What about Chanukah, then? Is that a very nice holiday? How about Kwanzaa?”

“Whatever humans feel the need to celebrate, or how they want to do it, is nice and important.” Castiel squinted at him, his head slightly tilted. “Are you trying to start a debate about this time of year? With an actual angel of the Lord?”

Dean huffed and shrugged. “Was only askin’… no need to get your panties in a bunch.”

“Merry Christmas, guys,” Jo said a little too brightly as she walked up to them, her cheeks a nice shade of pink. She either was embarrassed about something or—

“Somebody got into mommy’s eggnog, didn’t they?” Dean asked, making Jo laugh a little too hard.

“How did you know she made eggnog? I don’t care, it’s real good, I really recommend you try it.”

“We’ll have some,” Castiel said, not letting Dean object. Not that he would have anyway.

While Jo walked away, Dean couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Of course they’re gonna be all crazy about Christmas. I’m just that lucky,” Dean said, picking at the glitters woven in the tablecloth. “Won’t be too soon when we get away from this place, I tell you.”

“I feel like I should have worn my Christmas sweater.”

Dean scowled at Castiel. “That’s your issue here? Not wearing a stupid sweater?”

“What else do you want me to do? Ask Ellen to take it all down because it’s ‘making you uncomfortable’?”

“I’m not uncomfortable… it’s just—” Dean sighed. “Forget about it… at least people might get drunk on the eggnog. It’ll be easy to pick and choose who we’ll be talking to.”

“I thought we concluded it was a bad idea.”

“You concluded, Cas. I disagreed. Then you disagreed with me. And I decided I don’t care.”

Jo came back at that very moment with the eggnog. “What would you guys like for dinner? I know you like burgers, so I suggest you have that tonight ‘cause tomorrow, there won’t be any.”

“Why not?” Dean asked after taking a sip of the eggnog and coughing a bit; it was almost as strong as the one Sam had served him once. That last Christmas before being sent to hell, before meeting Castiel. Castiel with whom he had yet to celebrate Christmas because that wasn’t what their life was about.

“It’s the Christmas party tomorrow. We’ll have a buffet… a bunch of people are coming in to spend the day cooking… Mary, Jody, Donna, Linda, Bobby, Crowley—”

Dean and Castiel looked at one another in shock. 

“Wait! Did you just say Crowley?” Dean said.

“Yeah. You know him?”

“Kinda short? Dark hair? Loves to wear suits?”

“That’s our mayor, all right. Where did you meet him? Oh… you met Bobby, so I guess that’s how you’d know him.”

“Why would having met Bobby mean I know Crowley?”

“Because they’re married, silly,” Jo said in a chuckle. “So? Burgers and fries?”

Both men could only nod, dumbstruck. It took some time for either of them to be ready to speak again.

“What the hell, Cas?”

“I don’t know…”

“I mean… what the hell?” Dean pinched the bridge of his nose, a tension headache looming behind his eyeballs. “I can’t take any more of that shit, man. I’m just so done.”

“I agree that things seem to be unraveling in a peculiar way.”

“No shit, Sherlock!” Dean turned around to look at the people slowly trickling inside the bar. And of course Bobby had to be coming in at that same moment, his arm around Rufus’ shoulders to lead them to their usual spot at the bar. “See? Not that Bobby dating a dude makes any sorta sense, but Rufus would be a better match,” he said, pointing his chin at the duo.

“Honestly, Bobby and Crowley being together is not really my main issue here.” Castiel paused to take a couple of sips of eggnog before speaking again. “If everyone we’ve encountered so far was important to you at some point, then how is Crowley here?”

“Guess it means that first assumption was wrong.”

“Except… you never killed him. I’m sure you had many occasions.”

Dean lift a single eyebrow. “Same with you, buddy.”

Castiel let out a resigned breath. “I guess he’s been useful at times. And he did sacrifice himself in the end. Maybe this explains why you’d be somewhat fond of him.”

“I wouldn’t go as far as saying that,” Dean said, forced to admit he’d chosen over and over to keep the demon alive. “He was the lesser evil, I guess.”

“Who was the lesser evil?” Ash said, having appeared beside them. He pulled on a chair to sit on it backward, a grin on his face. “Doesn’t matter. Did Jo tell you about tomorrow?”

“The Christmas party? Yeah… it’s a bit early for that, don’t you think?”

The confused look Dean got back didn’t bode well.

“I wouldn’t say Christmas Eve is too early to celebrate Christmas. You’ll be there, right?” He scoffed at himself. “Of course, you will… you’ve got nowhere else to go, do you?”

“Tomorrow’s not Christmas Eve,” Dean blurted out after counting the days on his fingers. “We should be the fifth… the sixth at the latest.”

“Dunno what calendar you live up to, but on ours, today’s December 23rd, hombre. Which means tomorrow is—”

“Cas?”

“I’m as surprised as you are.”

Ash, who had been walking away, turned right back around. “I knew I’d come here for a reason… we’re also having some kind of secret Santa game. All you gotta do is bring a gift tomorrow, wrapped of course, and put it under the tree.” He pointed at each of them. “One gift each! No cheatin’. And no expensive stuff either, no matter how much you love us,” Ash said before sauntering away.

“That’s interesting,” Castiel said, already trying to think what would make the perfect gift.

“We’re not doing this, Cas.”

“What else are we going to do? You’re bored out of your mind anyway, aren’t you?”

“Yeah… so? And anyway, you heard him, we gotta bring gifts.”

“There must be something in the Impala’s trunk you’d be willing to part with.”

“No way! Baby’s treasures are not to be touched, you hear me?” Dean own mouth curled up in a crooked smile. “We do have some pretty ugly sweaters upstairs.”

Castiel leaned forward, angry squinting. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, watch me go, baby! I’ll certainly—”

The shock on Castiel’s face was enough to interrupt Dean. “What? What did I—”

_ Shit!  _ he finished internally, Dean’s own words playing back in his mind; he’d called Cas baby. He tried to swallow down the tightness in his throat. Any other day, saying this wouldn’t have mattered. Hell, Castiel probably wouldn’t have noticed. But now that they’d kinda tiptoed over the line between friendship and ‘something more’, it felt awkward.

He cleared his throat, yet his voice still sounded oddly wrecked. “You know I didn’t mean it like that, right? It’s just a saying.”

Castiel didn’t comment, his searching gaze locked on Dean’s face.

“Stop looking at me like that, man. It didn’t mean anything, okay?”

Jo bringing them dinner and refilling their glasses with eggnog came as a relief for Dean. It gave him an excuse to evade Castiel’s eyes and pay attention to his food instead. While he took the biggest bite possible out of his own burger, he could feel Cas still looking at him.

He was about to take a second bite when Castiel finally spoke.

“We’re not done talking about this, Dean Winchester.”

And if Dean needed a whole lot of eggnog to help the burger – and other stuff – go down, it wasn’t anybody else’s business but his.

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	17. Eggnog Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve been listening to instrumental Christmas playlists as I write lately… I was hoping it’d put me in the mood, you know? And I think it’s kinda working too. I know in the U.S., Thanksgiving may be an even bigger Holiday when it comes to family coming together, but in Quebec (I can’t really speak for the entirety of Canada), Christmas is the real big thing. So, if what I will be describing doesn’t sound very "mid-western-ish", it’s totally normal.
> 
> And… well… we don’t know where Cas and Dean are, so it could work… What if they’d been transported somewhere way up North? Gonna tell ya, we kinda gots loads of snow already, and the further you go, the more there is (I think)… so who knows???
> 
> Again, I’m only teasing. No, they’re not stuck in Northern Quebec… it’s just my own personal experience tainting the story. When I started that we didn’t really have snow yet… I kinda wanted snow, so I wrote about it… 
> 
> I will of course have an explanation, just not that one. And you gotta be a little patient still for that. I know it… it’s not written yet, but I know it.
> 
> Thanks to everyone for reading and leaving comments… it’s really making it all even more special. I’ll be answering later, but I’ve read them all and I’m just so happy! I really hope you’ll like this new chapter. There are new characters (or at least more interactions with them) and… this story really warms my heart. 
> 
> I’ll see you again tomorrow and in the meantime, take care of yourselves. Happy Holidays to all, whatever you do or don’t do during this time of year.
> 
> .

The last time Dean had been this hungover, he’d been trying to forget Cas had died by burying himself in strippers and booze. With his brother’s blessing, no less. Since Cas had been back, he’d been much more sober. However sober Dean Winchester could be, anyway.

Until last night. 

Ellen’s eggnog had done a great job at making Dean forget about most of everything; being stuck wherever, wanting to interrogate drunk people, kissing an angel of the Lord, calling him baby…

Except the memories were now back with their friends headache and nausea. He rolled out of bed, groaning.

“What the hell?” he mumbled when he felt the chill of the room all over his body. Shocked to find himself naked, he turned to see Castiel still fast asleep somewhere under the covers. His temples pulsating, Dean looked around to find his clothes folded on the chair.

There was no way he had folded his clothes while drunk out of his mind; it had to have been Castiel’s doing. He waited until he was dressed before going to stand next to Castiel’s side of the bed.

“Cas,” he said, hoping it’d be enough to wake him up. The angel just snorted, sighed, and turned around. “Cas!” he repeated louder, giving him a forceful shove. “Wake the fuck up!”

“It’s too early,” Castiel responded, his voice muffled by the covers. “Leave me be.”

To be honest, Dean didn’t really care if Cas were to be awake. What he really needed to know was if there had been any type of naked stuff happening between them. And if there had, Dean had a big job of damage control to do.

Which was why he grabbed the covers and pulled them off of Castiel.

“Oh thank god, you got clothes,” he said when he found the angel wearing his pajamas.

“Of course, I do,” Castiel said, blindly trying to grab the covers from Dean. “Can you let me sleep now?”

“Yeah, good… sorry… gotta go to the bathroom.”

Dean dropped the covers back over Castiel before leaving. Apparently Ash too was awake because Dean found the bathroom door locked with the shower running inside. The need to pee had now become urgent and he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold it in much longer.

His only solution was the backdoor. If he went out he couldn’t come back in, but if he stayed in the frame and aimed to the side and as far as possible, maybe—

“Hey, Dean! Comin’ to help us out?” he heard Jo say behind him as he was about to open the door. He turned around, ready to explain himself.

“Thank god!” he could only muster as he realized the downstairs door was unlocked. He speed walked toward the bar’s restrooms without another word. When he came back out, Jo stood there waiting, handing him a cup of coffee and a bottle of analgesics.

“So… how’s your head this morning?” she asked with a smirk while he popped the bottle open.

Dean grunted before swallowing two pills. “Peachy.” He gave her back the bottle in exchange for the coffee.

“Man, you were drunk last night! I’m surprised your even upward right now.”

“I didn’t do anything stupid, did I?”

“Depends what you mean by stupid.” She smiled. “You’re a real chatty cathy when you’re drunk, did you know that?”

Heat rose in Dean’s face. “What did I say?”

“What didn’t you say?” Jo gave Dean a sympathetic pat on the arm. “Don’t worry about it… don’t think you said anything bad. You kinda went around the room and got to know people, mostly. Just sucks you might not remember about all the new friends you’ve made.”

“I think your mom spiked my eggnog.”

Jo threw her head back, laughing. “Dude, there was so much booze in there, she didn’t need to spike it on top of it. You got piss drunk, just live with it.” 

She came to stand closer, her hands on her hips. “If you’re so worried about my mom spiking your food and drinks, why don’t you come to the kitchen and help us?”

“Help with what?”

“Told you… we’re all baking for the party tonight. Can you cook at all?”

Dean shrugged. “A bit… not too bad at it.”

“Great! Everyone’s in there already,” Jo said as she lead the way into the kitchen.

“Jo! I need you over here for the gravy… oh, hi Dean! Came to give us a hand?” Ellen said when they walked in. “How do you feel about peeling potatoes?

And because Dean didn’t mind being on potato duty, he nodded and went to where she had pointed. Which so happened to be next to Crowley, also on peeling duty. He couldn’t help finding the sight pretty ironic: The king of hell peeling his way through an entire bushel of apples.

“Hello, mate!” Crowley said, a smile on his face. Which, to be honest, had to be the creepiest thing Dean had seen so far in this place. “Name’s Crowley.”

“Don’t listen to him… his name’s Fergus,” Bobby said over his shoulder before winking at the demon.

_ Son of a bitch! _

“Don’t listen to that old drunk… everyone calls me Crowley.”

“Everyone except your mom.”

Hearing Bobby and Crowley bicker like an old couple sent shivers all over Dean’s body, and not the good kind. He grabbed a knife and started hacking at the potatoes furiously up until Crowley addressed him again.

“Not to tell you what to do, but you might want to keep some actual potato on there.”

Bashful, Dean considered the thick peels, and actual potato slivers, he had dropped in the wastebasket. “Sorry… kinda hungover,” he mumbled, which made about half of the people in the room erupt in laughter.

“I’ll say,” Jody said, busy kneading some dough alongside Donna. “Man was I glad you didn’t have to drive after that.”

“I wouldn’t have let him, you know that,” Ellen provided as she stuffed the turkeys. “Although it could have been funny to send him outside and see how long it’d take him to realize his car wasn’t there.”

Bobby chuckled. “Pretty sure he would have died of hypothermia before that.”

This time, everybody but Dean laughed. Not that it wasn’t funny, but it was far too surreal for his taste and it tempered with his funny bone. Apparently he’d talked a lot to people and he needed to know what he’d said. He waited until the laughter had died down before asking.

“So… Jo tells me I talked to you guys a lot yesterday?” he asked, trying to keep his expression as neutral as possible.

“They weren’t all here last night,” Ellen said. “T’was me, Jo, Bobby, Jody, and Ash. And other folks, but they’ll only be here later tonight.”

“We knew we had to come and cook for you, Ellen. That’s why we weren’t here last night,” Mary said, busy cutting vegetables with John. “We’re old, you know. We need our beauty sleep.”

Bobby scoffed. “I was there, and I’m older than all of you. You kids are so—”

“May I remind you I had to kick you out of bed, Bobby?” Crowley said, making everybody laugh some more.

“But… what did I tell you?”

Jody shrugged. “I don’t know about these guys, but you talked a whole lot about your boyfriend.”

“Not his boyfriend,” Ellen, Mary, and Jo said together, making one another laugh in the process.

Jody rolled her eyes. “Won’t be this way for long if you ask me,” she added, prompting Dean to knick his finger with the knife.

“You’re lying,” he said before shoving the finger in his mouth.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I don’t remember shit and you could have all decided to fuck with me.”

“Boy, I have better things to do than invent some silly stories. Tell him, Donna.”

“She has better things to do than invent some silly stories,” the blond answered, rolling little dough balls she placed on a tray.

Jody grinned at Donna and nodded.

“You told me you’d rather die than lose Castiel again,” Bobby said, making Dean choke on his tongue.

“Said the same thing to me,” Jo added. “More than once, too.”

“He didn’t say that to me,” Ellen then said. Dean could have kissed her he was so relieved. The urge to do so died when she kept going. “But he did ask me to put on a slow tune so he could ask him to dance.”

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	18. The Talk: Take One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not only do I like my Dean grumpy, I also like him flustered and awkward… one of my favorite scenes in the show has to be when Aaron flirts with him… Dean is the cutest, both shy and kinda pleased to have been flirted with, to the point of tripping over his own feet.
> 
> So, yeah… it’s pretty much that version of Dean in this new chapter. Just a little bit. 'Cause he’s just so cute. He’s the cutest monster killing machine out there.
> 
> Thank you again for the comments, they make me soooo happy… I’ll be replying later to everyone, but in the meantime, here’s chapter 18. I really hope you’ll like it, and please feel free to share your thoughts and feelings… 
> 
> I’ll see you again tomorrow, and in the meantime, take care of yourselves!
> 
> Toodles…
> 
> .

When Castiel walked downstairs – still wearing his navy blue silk pajamas – Dean hadn’t said a single word for close to an hour. Ellen telling him he had wanted to dance with Cas had been the last straw. 

Asking questions had become dangerous and Dean wasn’t ready to be given answers he didn’t wanna know. Answers that may have lead to explaining why he’d woken up naked in bed next to Castiel. Dean only then realized he’d assumed nothing had happened between them based on the fact that Castiel was wearing his pajamas. He felt his face warm up again.

“Hi Castiel,” everyone said at once. Dean pursed his lips; they hadn’t seemed as happy when he himself came in.

“Hello,” the angel answered back. “Do you have coffee?” he asked Ellen, who pointed at the machine. Castiel shuffled his socked feet toward the machine, making sure to catch Dean’s gaze as he did. “Hello, Dean.”

“Ow!” Dean could only answer, seeing how he nicked yet another finger, actually cutting himself properly this time. It was enough for Ellen to come and take the knife from him.

“You’d think a grown ass men would know how to handle a stupid paring knife,” she said, pointing at an overhead cabinet with the blade. 

_ Let alone a damn hunter! _ Dean brain supplied for her. 

“There’s a first aid kit in there. Just wash it off and put a bandage on. There should also be latex gloves if you’re gonna help some more. I’d rather not have blood in my food.”

Before Dean could comply, Castiel had gone to grab the kit. He beckoned Dean to follow him and went back into the dining room to sit at the bar. When Dean joined him after washing his hands, Castiel had already opened the plastic box to take everything out.

“Cas… you don’t have to empty everything all the time,” he groaned as he sat next to him.

The angel didn’t answer, instead grabbing his friend’s hand to inspect the cut on his finger. He rested a finger on the wound and sighed.

“It should be so easy to make it better,” he said under his breath, now going through the small ointment tubes until he found the topical one. He unscrewed the top and pressed the tube to cover the cut in gel.

“It’s just a little cut, Cas,” Dean said, ignoring the galloping of his heart.

“It could still get infected,” Castiel answered, his eyes never leaving his work. He worked slowly, his long fingers so delicate over Dean’s skin that he got goosebumps.

“There you go,” Castiel said once he’d put a bandage on. He looked up and gave Dean a smile.

“Thanks, Cas,” he answered, a lump in his throat. If he was ever going to ask, it had to be now. “So… what happened last night?”

Castiel tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“I woke up naked, Cas. Naked. In bed. With you.”

“And?”

Dean harrumphed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Don’t make me say it, will you?”

“I believe I’m at a loss here. All I can do is confirm that yes, you got into bed naked last night.”

“But why?”

The confusion on Castiel’s face didn’t ease.

“Because you took off your clothes.”

“Come on, Cas! Did we… you know… did we do stuff?” He rolled his eyes before continuing. “Sex stuff, Cas… did we do sex stuff?”

Understanding dawned over Castiel… finally.

“Of course not, Dean. You wouldn’t have been a willing participant if we had done ‘sex stuff’. You were far too drunk. When we have sex, I’d rather know that you’ll remember it.”

The relief Dean had felt at first didn’t last long.

“Not happening,” Dean countered, getting to his feet again. He grabbed a latex glove from the pile on the table and slid it on his wounded hand as he went back to the kitchen. “You should put on some legit clothes, Cas. You look ridiculous in those pajamas,” he added before disappearing through the door.

“So… who’s next?” he said with a grin, snapping the wrist of his glove. He chuckled when he saw the men wince.

“How do you feel about pies?” Ellen asked, putting the last of the four turkeys in the oven.

“Love pies!”

“Ever made one?”

Dean shook his head, already salivating at the news that there’d be pie.

“I gotta make the dough first. Care to help?”

Eager to be useful again, Dean nodded and came to stand next to her. As they worked, he didn’t say much, mainly listening to everyone as they shared tidbits of their lives with one another. That was how Dean learned that Jody and Donna were actually together – which he didn’t found as weird as Bobby and Crowley, to be honest – and that they had two adopted daughters, Alex and Claire.

“Hey… makes me realize something,” he eventually said. “I haven’t seen kids around much. Or, at all, really. The only one I met is Lisa’s kid.”

“Yeah… Ben. The school’s closed due to the snow so kids pretty much choose to stay home.”

“None of them like to play outside?”

Seeing the spatter of flour on Donna’s face when she turned to him reminded Dean of their shared appreciation of powdered sugar donuts. “Why the heck would they wanna go outside? They have video games.”

Jody shook her head. “There’s a great big hill right next to the clinic. As a kid, I spent my whole days going up and down that hill.”

“My cousins and I, we loved to build forts and just go at war with the neighbours,” Mary said, bumping her shoulder with John’s.

“Your cousins were vicious,” the man said. “They almost blinded me with those snowballs spiked with ice.”

“You’re being overly dramatic, honey.”

Dean couldn’t help but watch when John dipped to kiss his wife on the lips. They both looked so happy and in love that it made his heart ache.

“You okay?” Ellen said in a low voice. 

He turned to her and gave her a soft smile. “Yeah… they just look good together, don’t they?”

She hummed in assent as she wrapped the last ball of pie dough in plastic wrap.

“Now we let the dough chill for a bit,” she said as she put the balls in the fridge. “We gotta wait for the turkeys to be cooked anyway.” Dean looked around the room to find most people seemed to be done with their tasks and were sipping on coffee.

“Who’s hungry?” Ellen asked, taking out eggs, cheese, and bacon out of the fridge. “Cheese and bacon omelettes for everyone?” she asked again, this time everybody responding with a soaring yes.

She worked quickly at preparing breakfast while everyone else cleaned up. Half an hour later, Dean was walking back upstairs with two breakfast plates and a small urn of coffee on a tray. He softly kicked on the door with his foot. “Cas? Can you open the door, please? My hands are full.”

The angel soon complied, holding the door open for him. Dean put the tray on the unmade bed.

“Did you go back to sleep?” he asked, seeing how the angel still wore his pajamas.

“No… is this for me?” he asked, pointing at the tray.

“It’s for both of us. I thought you’d be hungry.” Dean took the urn and poured some coffee into Castiel’s mug, then in his. “Sorry about earlier.”

“What for?”

“I was kind of an ass. I didn’t even thank you for this,” he said, showing the bandage on his forefinger. “And… you know… about the me being naked thing. I tend to do stupid stuff when I’m drunk so—”

“We danced together,” Castiel said as he grabbed one of the breakfast plates. “You asked Ellen to play a slow song and then you asked me to dance.”

Taking the other plate, Dean went to sit on the armchair. “Told ya… I do stupid stuff when I’m drunk.”

“It didn’t feel stupid… it felt rather nice.” Castiel met Dean’s gaze. “I had never danced before, did you know that?”

Dean shrugged, plowing as much omelet as possible in his mouth so he wouldn’t go and say something stupid again. Of course, Cas hadn’t danced before. Angels didn’t dance, did they?

“And since you probably don’t remember, I should tell you that being naked is a direct consequence of you wanting to have intercourse with me.”

And down the wrong pipe the omelet went.


	19. The Talk: Take Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know about you, but I’m getting real frustrated over Dean’s stubbornness… he’s just so thick in the head!
> 
> I know I’m the one doing the writing, but at the same time, it doesn’t feel like it is… Things don’t want to unravel faster than they are, oddly enough.
> 
> Meaning that… well… they’re not. Not yet, anyway. For those of you who like sexual tension AND slow burn, I’d say you’re reading the right story.
> 
> Still… there WILL be resolution… a Destiel kind of resolution, too… I just can’t say when or how. 
> 
> In the meantime, here’s another serving of awkwardness, and booze, and of a certain angel of Lord getting pretty tired of a certain hunter’s emotional issues! (How many talks is this thing gonna take, huh?)
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and commenting, waking up to your words every day is just the best thing ever. Take care of yourselves and I’ll see you again tomorrow for MORE dumb Dean! lol
> 
>  
> 
> .

It had taken a little while for Dean to be able to breathe normaly again. He then had shoveled the remaining of the omelet into his mouth to keep himself from speaking, Castiel doing the same from his place on the bed.

“I’m sorry for that too, then,” he said when he had nothing left to fill his pie hole.

Castiel shrugged, putting his own plate back on the tray. “I’m not.”

Dean got up to put his own plate on the tray before transferring everything on the dresser. He came to sit on the bed, facing the angel.

“Cas, you gotta listen to me, all right?” Dean swallowed, dreading the conversation to come. “You have to know that whatever I did or said last night… it wasn’t me.”

And of course Castiel would start squinting at him.

“You should already know how alcohol just messes with human minds, right? That’s what happened here. And, well… pretty sure this place is messing with us too.”

“You weren’t drunk when you called me baby,” Castiel countered, his head tilted. “Or when we kissed.”

“Told you… it could also be this place.”

Castiel shrugged, daring to put a hand on Dean’s knee. Dean’s gaze followed the gesture, but he didn’t try to evade it. “I know for a fact this place is not messing with me. Not in that particular manner, anyway.”

“You lost your powers.”

“I did… yet the feelings I have for you are no different than before. Maybe stronger due to my grace not tampering with them, but they’re nothing new for me.”

Dean groaned, wiping a hand over his face. “You can’t say shit like that, Cas,” he said, trying to ignore how warm Castiel’s hand felt on his knee. “That’s not the kind of stuff friends tell each other.”

“Why not?”

“Because they don’t… it just makes thing complicated, and weird, and—”

Castiel leapt forward, stopping just a hair’s breadth before his lips landed on Dean’s. “When I stand close to you like this, I can feel your whole being radiating… you’re aching for more.”

“You’re wrong,” Dean said after swallowing, yet still not moving away.

“I don’t think I am, no,” Castiel countered, his breath a caress over Dean’s lips. 

If Cas hadn’t leaned back at that moment, Dean would have not doubt claimed his mouth. The hunter exhaled in deep relief and licked his lips, waiting for Castiel to speak again.

“There’s a chance that this place, as you say, has a certain power over you. I’m not disputing that.” The angel got off the bed. As he gathered some clothes and the shower stuff bag, he kept talking. “I know where I stand while you clearly seem confused. Rest assured that I will not try and pursue you. I will keep my distances.” Now standing near the door, Castiel landed a determined stare on Dean. “If you ever decide that you can accept this thing between us, I’ll be there. Until then…”

Castiel didn’t finish his thought, instead leaving Dean alone to gape at the door.

“Son of a bitch!” he eventually said, wondering if Ellen would serve him booze at this hour. Leaving the room and going back downstairs was an automatic gesture. He ignored the people sitting and chatting over breakfast to go sit at the bar. He held a finger up for Ash who came and stood in front of him.

“You really think drinking now is a good idea?” Ash asked, making Dean scoff and glare at him. “All right… what’s your poison?”

Dean showed him the half full mug he’d brought down with him. “Can you add a bit of Christmas spirit to this thing?”

Ash smirked before getting a bottle of rum and pouring some in the mug. “Would you like me to make some more coffee? Is this what you’re gonna be drinking this morning?”

Dean shook his head before downing the entirety of the now lukewarm coffee. “Just some more booze,” he asked, sliding the cup forward. Ash sighed, but complied.

“At this rate, you’ll be drunk again before the party even starts.”

“Don’t really care.”

Dean swallowed the whole thing again, pursing his lips at the taste; rum really hadn’t been Ash’s best idea. He pushed the cup forward again. “Can you make the next serving bourbon or something? I’d say I had enough rum last night.”

“Let me take care of this, Ash,” Ellen said as she walked out of the kitchen. “How many?” she asked her employee, who held up two fingers in response. She nodded and snatched the bottle from Ash’s hand.

“What the hell’s wrong with you, kid?” she asked when Ash had disappeared back into the kitchen. “I may have said your tab was on me, I’m still not too keen on you drinking me out of business.” She poured some bourbon in Dean’s cup before putting the bottle away. “I’m cutting you off now.”

Dean nodded, his eyes on the content of his cup. “There’s gotta be a liquor store around here, right? I’ll just go buy myself some more booze.”

As sole answer, Ellen patted Dean’s forearm. “Not saying I’m cutting you off forever, but it’d be nice if you were at least conscious when the party starts.”

“M’not comin’.”

“You don’t have to. We’d still love to have you and Castiel, though.”

Letting out a chuckle, Dean looked up at Ellen. “Cas’ll be here… he gets excited over the stupidest things.”

“Does this mean you won’t come help me with the pies later? We’re not done, you know.”

“If you say I can take one and eat it upstairs all by my lonesome, then yeah, I’ll help you with the pies.”

Ellen shook her head, a pitying look on her face. “I’ll tell you what I think you should do. You should go back upstairs right now and listen to your heart for once. He wants you, you want him, just do something about it already… you know, kiss, hump each other silly, blow each other, I don’t really care. Just settle this thing once and for all.”

Seeing the shock on Dean’s face, Ellen huffed. “Don’t give me that look, boy… I wish you’d remember what you did last night. If I hadn’t stopped you, I’m pretty sure you would have tried to mount your boy right there in the middle of my bar.”

“You’re lying,” Dean said through his teeth, making Ellen roll her eyes.

“Ash!” she called. 

The man peaked his head through the kitchen door. “Yeah?”

“Go get your laptop… I need to show Dean what happened last night. He doesn’t remember.”

“Right on, boss!” Ash said as he ran upstairs, leaving a now livid Dean to panic as he awaited his fate.

Ten minutes later, Dean had no choice but to accept the fact that nobody had been lying as he watched himself stagger to the middle of the floor, pulling a confused Castiel behind him. He swallowed the lump in his throat at the sight of his own body pretty much wrapped around the angel’s as they swayed together.

“Can you turn up the volume?” Dean asked, his voice a rough murmur.

“No sound on this thing. Images only,” Ash provided.

“Cinderella,” Ellen said.

“Huh?”

She leaned forward to catch Dean’s eyes. “You asked me to put on  [ _ Don’t Know What You Got Till It’s Gone _ ](https://youtu.be/i28UEoLXVFQ) , by Cinderella… that’s what you boys are dancing to.”

Breathing was once more becoming an issue. Dean looked back at the screen, his heart beating furiously when he saw himself hide his face in the crook of Castiel’s neck and holding him so very close.

When tears started prickling his eyes, he slammed the laptop shut. “Why are you doing this?” he asked, his clenched fist on the bar.

“We’re not doing anything, Dean.” Ellen waved at the computer. “You saw it, right? You were the one calling the shots.”

“That wasn’t me… not really… has to be some kind of spell… I would never…”

“You’d never what? Let yourself have what you want?”

“I don’t want this!” Dean almost screamed this time, punching the bar. “I’m not gay, all right? I’m a hunter, I love pussy, muscle cars, classic rock… I’m not a fucking—”

“Dare you to say it,” Dean heard behind him. He turned to find Bobby standing there with his arms crossed, glaring at him. “You’re not a fucking what?”

Dean clenched his jaw and swallowed the word threatening to pass his lips. Crowley, who had come to stand next to his husband, looked more amused than anything.

“He probably was to say he’s not a sodding poof, Love. Or a fucking faggot, as you Americans say. Is that what you were about to say?”

“I—it’s not—okay, yeah! Something like that, okay? I didn’t mean anything by it, I’m just—it’s not me, is all.”

With a snort, Bobby came forward to flip the laptop open again, the black and white video resuming on screen. He poked hard at the screen, making Ash wince. “Something tells me you’re at least a little queer, boy. Why don’t you go and think about that for a bit.”

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	20. Making Pies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5 DAYS LEFT!!! Again I ask you, where has December gone?
> 
> I’m not done with my Christmas shopping, I have cookies to bake… I’m just NOT READY!!!
> 
> Oh well… at least you get a chapter every day! I’ll say I’m accomplishing something :D
> 
> I think today’s chapter is an important one. For Dean’s psyche, I mean. Well, not as important as tomorrow’s, but this is where it starts. It’s about time, you’ll say, since we’re 20 chapters in. I agree… but that’s how things went, I couldn’t anything against that. loll
> 
> Thank you for reading and leaving comments, I hope you’ll like this new chapter. I’ll see you again tomorrow and in the meantime, be safe, be merry, be whatever you wanna be! :D (Except bad… you wouldn’t wanna end up on Santa’s naughty list, would you?)
> 
> .

When Dean walked back into the room, he made a point of not acknowledging Castiel. Until he noticed the angel had put on his snow pants and coat.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“I need the keys to the Impala,” Castiel only said back, holding his hand up.

“Why? You wanna leave this place? Without me, no less?”

Castiel rolled his eyes. “Of course not. I just need something I forgot in the car.”

“What?”

“Fine, I’ll ask Bobby to help me,” Castiel said in a huff before opening the door. He stopped in his stride when Dean spoke again.

“All right,” he said, making sure to sound annoyed enough. “Gimme a minute, I’ll go with you.”

“It’s not necessary, Dean. I won’t be gone for more than fifteen minutes.”

“I don’t care. We shouldn’t be apart. What if it’s what they’re waiting for to kill us or something?”

“You left me in here this morning. Alone. Nothing happened.”

“I was just downstairs. You’re going out there.”

“Bobby’s shop is five minutes away. Everything’s going to be fine.”

His gaze hard on Castiel, Dean looked at his watch before shoving it in Castiel’s face. “If you’re not back here by two, that’s in fifteen minutes, I’m going out there to find you. And when I do, I’m bringing you back here and cuffing you to the bed so you can’t go anywhere anymore, you hear me?”

Castiel quirked an eyebrow and took a step forward, batting Dean’s arm away. “I’d love to see you try,” he said, his voice low and menacing. And hell if that wasn’t enough to make Dean’s spine tingle.

He had meant it, cuffing him to the bed, but not in the context his mind was now imagining it. He swallowed with a click as images of a naked and sweaty angel swirled in his mind. He flattened a hand over Castiel’s chest with the intent of shoving him away.

Except he didn’t.

“Just be quick,” he managed to say after a while, unable to tear his gaze from Castiel’s. Castiel nodded before tilting his chin up, grabbing Dean’s arm to move it away.

“I will,” Castiel said as he turned away and left the room.

It took some time for Dean to be able to think clearly again. He looked at his watch to see at least five minutes had passed. He kept his eyes on it as seconds trickled away ever so slowly.

When Castiel walked back into the room a mere minute before two, he found Dean pacing nervously in the room.

“See? I’m alive,” he said, smirking. “And Ellen asked me to tell you you’re expected downstairs no later than four. For the pies,” he added.

“Yeah, okay, thanks…” Dean provided as he went to sit on the bed, suddenly tired. “Huh… I’ll take a nap. You don’t mind?”

“Not at all… I’ll take these off and go back downstairs.

Dean nodded and buried himself beneath the covers, his back turned to Castiel. He tried to ignore the swishy sounds of him taking his snow clothes off. Just like he tried to ignore the stupid brain fart that consisted of the angel being naked underneath the swishy snow gear.

 _Get a grip, Winchester!_ he chided himself. Why couldn’t he stop picturing Castiel naked? He groaned when his dick stirred in his pants, as if to say it very well knew why. _Shut up!_

When Dean woke up, it was almost four already. He leapt off the bed to go to the bathroom. He washed his hands thoroughly, deciding to forego the shower. He’d have plenty of time later anyway. He stalked downstairs, not surprised to hear a whole lot of voices now. He found the place packed, most people wearing ugly Christmas sweaters.

He spotted a whole bunch of teens hanging close to the tree. They were all there; Claire, Alex, Ben, Krissy, and… was that Jesse? Just like Ben, the kid looked much older than the last time he’d seen him. His heart leapt when he noticed the boy sitting next to Claire: even Jack was there.

He looked around the room to find Castiel sitting at the bar talking to none other than Kelly Kline. But it wasn’t the sight of the woman that made Dean’s breath hitch.

“Son of a bitch,” Dean mumbled under his breath when he realized he couldn’t ignore how Castiel looked gorgeous in his new clothes. Dean had always known Cas looked good, without really thinking about it, but this was different. He swallowed when he noticed how tight the dark red pants Castiel wore looked over his surprisingly thick thighs. Almost tight enough to rip apart at the seams, pretty much how Dean felt inside his own skin right now.

“He cleans up nice, doesn’t he?” Dean heard Crowley say close to his ear. “If I wasn’t already married, I’d—”

“Shut up!” Dean bit back, his eyes never leaving Castiel. He may have given him a hard time about the damn sweaters, he had to admit the one he’d chosen to wear looked awesome on him.

“No need to worry… he wouldn’t want me anyway,” Crowley said before walking away.

It was at that moment that Castiel noticed Dean stood there looking at him. He smiled and nodded before pointing at the teens. Dean nodded back, understanding how Castiel might have felt to see Claire and Jack. They were, to some extent, like Castiel’s own kids.

Their silent conversation was interrupted by Ellen coming to stand between them.

“You’re right on time,” she told Dean, pointing her thumb at the kitchen. “The turkeys are out and resting, it’s time for the pies.”

With one last nod toward Castiel, Dean followed the woman to the kitchen.

“Can I ask you to roll the dough? You know how to do this, right?”

“Can’t be that hard…”

Ellen took the dough balls from the fridge and dropped them in front of Dean.

“Each ball is good for one pie. Means we got five pies here.” She pointed at the tin plates on the counter. “I need you to roll out the bases first, pile them together with plastic wrap between each plate, then put it all in the freezer.”

If he found the request weird, Dean didn’t say a word about it.

“While you do this, I’ll prepare the apple-brandy filling.”

“Brandy? What about the kids?”

“After everything’s done cooking, there won’t be alcohol left in them. It’s just for the taste.”

Dean nodded as he unwrapped a first ball. Ellen went to stand by the stove. She grabbed the apples that had been prepared by Crowley to drop them all in a big saucepan.

He didn’t see what else she did, concentrating on his own task. He made a quick job of rolling out the dough, making sure Ellen found his job satisfying before putting everything in the freezer.

“Now what?” he asked. “Want me to roll out the rest?”

Ellen turned to him as she stirred the apple preparation with a wooden spoon. “Yeah, but we’ll be doing a lattice top. You know what that is?”

“Like a basket? Yeah, but I’ve never done it.”

“It’s easy, you’ll see. Flatten the dough like you did before, then you’ll need to cut them into strips.”

Once more, Dean complied without asking any more questions. He was just about done when Ellen put the steaming pot on the counter before going to get the tins in the freezer.

“You put the filling in and I’ll start on the lattice.”

Dean nodded, going to stand where Ellen had put the tins and pot. Once done, he looked over what Ellen was doing and started doing the same. She had time to do three and a half while he did one and finished her last one while she cleaned up. He put the pies in the oven, a delighted smile on his face.

“Thanks for helping out, Dean… you can take a pie upstairs later.”

“Cool, thanks.” He looked down at himself. “I’ll go take a shower and change… didn’t think it’d be so messy.”

“Sorry, forgot to offer you an apron… which reminds me, if you and Cas would like to wash your clothes, we have a washer and dryer in the back. I imagine you’ve run out of clean stuff by now.”

“We’re good, we bought some stuff from Lisa’s.”

“Great… still, it’s there if you need it. Just ask me, or Jo, or even Ash, we’ll show you where it’s at.”

Dean nodded and left the kitchen. Even more people were there now. He looked around, starting to panic when he couldn’t find Castiel immediately. Until he did, his heart sinking low in his gut when he saw him locking lips with Kelly Kline.

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	21. Let’s Get This Party Started

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna be giggling… not sure how to giggle in writing… tee hee?? *giggles*
> 
> Anyway… you get the picture. Not only am I giggling, I’m also a little giddy… you’ll see why soon enough.
> 
> And tomorrow… MAN! Tomorrow’s gonna be even better. Maybe I’m in a good mood because I’ve read tomorrow AND the next day. 
> 
> Sorry, I didn’t mean to be such a tease *cough cough* I have nothing to say really. I’ll let you go so you can read already.
> 
> And well, thank your for reading, leaving such delicious comments! I really hope you’ll like today’s chapter. Take care of yourselves and I’ll see you for the next one tomorrow!! :D
> 
>  
> 
> .

It didn’t matter that Dean had been determined to not be a part of that stupid Christmas party, seeing Cas getting all cozy with Kelly Kline had made him stupidly angry.

He’d wondered, even back then… there was no way Castiel could have been so adamant to protect her her only because of the kid. The girl had to have been a factor as well. She was pretty.

Furiously scrubbing his skin clean under the spray of the shower, Dean tried to ignore the erratic beatings of his heart. Castiel didn’t owe Dean anything, he had a right to find Kelly attractive and want to kiss her. Hell, he could even go and fuck her if that’s what he wanted.

The twitch in his dick did nothing to appease Dean’s mood. Just yesterday he would have been able to put the heat blooming in his groin on the fact that he’d pictured Kelly having sex. It would have been a lie, but he still would have believed it.

No. He had to accept that it was the thought of Castiel having sex that was making him hot and bothered. Not Castiel with Kelly, but Castiel with him. Nobody else but him.

The realization made Dean punch the tiles while his other hand dipped low on his abdomen. He wrapped a hand around his length and squeezed, exhaling loudly as he did. He closed his eyes and licked his lips, remembering the warmth of the angel’s mouth on his.

His hand didn’t stay idle for long, working fast just to be done with it. When he came, it wasn’t as satisfying as it should have been and Dean attributed that to the reason he’d been touching himself in the first place.

Wearing the plaid pajama pants and white t-shirt he’d bought at Lisa’s, Dean went back to their room. He had still intended on spending the evening upstairs, but something – Castiel – was drawing him to join the party instead. He also kind of hated the idea of letting Kelly dig her claws into Cas. Didn’t matter that she wasn’t really her, it still meant there was something down there trying to get into his angel’s tight red pants.

His angel…

“Son of a bitch!”

He took his pajamas off as if they’d been on fire, going to the closet to grab some clothes. When he saw the navy pants next to his jeans, he took them off the hanger. He’d noticed before how he and Castiel pretty much wore the same size, so Dean decided to try on the khakis. And, well, they looked pretty nice on him, if he could say so himself.

He then considered the other sweater Cas had bought, this one more like a button up sweater in a lighter shade of blue with small snowflakes knitted all over. It would kind of look nice with the white tee he’d been planning to wear to bed. It wasn’t as if he had much choice of clothes anyway, did he?

As he walked downstairs, he had to admit that the party atmosphere was starting to get to him; the voices of the people he knew and loved, the Christmas music not too tacky nor too loud, the smell of homestyle cooking.

He may have been somewhat prepared, seeing so many people in the bar at once still surprised Dean. As he tried to go through, It literally felt like a thick wall made of people. It didn’t matter that he was taller than most, he still had trouble finding Castiel. When he did, it was thanks to Cas standing next to his ginormous big brother, his floppy head of hair sticking out over the crowd.

No doubt the whole village had decided to come, he surmised as he made his way toward his friend and brother. As he did, he spotted even more faces he hadn’t seen for a while, many of which he would have loved to talk to had they been the real thing. Except he knew they weren’t – and they wouldn’t know him – so he kept walking, nodding and waving at all those people he once knew.

“You came,” Castiel exclaimed when Dean finally reached the bar. His cheeks were red and his hair was an unruly mess. He chose not to mention it when he remembered Cas had been making out with Kelly earlier.

“I’m so glad you’re here, Dean. This party isn’t the same without you,” Castiel added, poking at Dean’s chest. When he looked up, his eyes were sparkling. “You’re wearing my clothes…” he only said before downing whatever he’d been drinking.

“You’re real drunk, aren’t you?” Dean said, chuckling. He tried to find Ellen or Jo, only to see people were serving themselves out of big punch bowls. One had some kind of red juice with fruits – sangria, probably – and the other had eggnog. He swallowed his disgust at the idea of drinking that milky crap again.

“Where’s the beer?”

Castiel shrugged and ladled some more eggnog in his red solo cup. Dean huffed and looked around to see Sam talking with Benny, the both of them with a beer in hand. He waved at them, mouthing his question as he pointed to their drinks. Benny smiled and pointed toward the area where the buffet table had been erected.

Dean answered with a thumbs up and walked up to the table. People had started eating because one of the turkeys was pretty much cleaned up to the bones already. He found a large vat with beer bottles peeking through the snow keeping them cool.

He took two bottles before going back where the angel sat. There were no more stools available, but he didn’t mind so much, putting his bottles on the bar to stand next to Castiel. He looked around, a little overwhelmed by the too many familiar faces in one place. Chicks he’d dated, hunters he’d worked with, civilians he’d saved. A lot of them dead and some he couldn’t have known if they were still alive.

Oddly enough, the more he looked, the more used to it he got. It even started making him somewhat happy. Until he spotted someone he never would have thought would be here. His Amazon daughter, Emma, was over there hanging out with the other teens. His whole body stiffened and of course, Castiel noticed.

“What’s wrong?” Castiel said in his ear, his speech a little slurred.

“That girl there,” Dean said, pointing at her with his bottle. “The tall blonde… that’s my daughter.”

Castiel chuckled, giving Dean’s shoulder a light punch. “Real funny, Dean. You don’t have children.”

“I swear, Cas. She was an Amazon… I had a one night stand with her mom a while ago… less than a week later, Emma was knocking at my door to kill me.”

“Amazons will do that, yes.” Castiel manhandled Dean to turn around and look at him. He may have been drunk and powerless, he still was strong as an ox. “Where’s your daughter now? Did you have to… you know…”

“Sam killed her… I don’t think I could have.” It didn’t matter that he’d told Sam he would have been able to kill her, the truth was that she might have killed him before he’d mustered the courage to do so.

He swallowed, hating the fact that the kid was there. He hadn’t loved her, did he? She was a fucking week old when she came after him. He’d hardly known she was alive to begin with.

“I understand,” Castiel said, cupping Dean’s jaw to turn his head back toward him. “Do you miss her?”

“I didn’t know her, Cas. And she wanted me dead.”

“She still was your child,” Castiel insisted. “I’m sorry, Dean. I’m sorry this happened to you.”

Dean shrugged as he pulled Castiel’s hand away from his face. He then let it go to shove both his hands in his pockets.

“So… where’s Kelly?”

“Dunno… somewhere… why?”

Dean shrugged. “You guys looked pretty cosy earlier. You know… kissing and stuff.” He shrugged again. “Not that it’s my business or anything… I just—”

This time, Castiel cradled Dean’s face with both hands, steering it to look over their heads. “Mistletoe,” he provided in Dean’s ear before moving back. “I’ve been kissed about fifteen times already,” he said, giggling.

“And you’re staying here?”

Castiel let Dean’s face go and tilted his head ever so slightly. “I was waiting for you.”

Claiming Castiel’s mouth with his hadn’t been something Dean had planned. He didn’t move away in shock this time, instead brushing delicate fingers against Castiel’s stubbled jaw as he sucked the angel’s lower lip between his.

He still was the one to move away to press their foreheads together.

“Merry Christmas, Cas.” 

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	22. Secret Santa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think today’s as good as any other day to remind you that this little thing isn’t beta’d. 'Cause… just 'cause.
> 
> Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be giving you something much more polished, but I couldn’t bear the thought of asking someone to do this and telling them I need it back ASAP. You know what I mean?
> 
> If I’d thought about it before November 30th, maybe I could have asked someone to give it a read. (Okay… I might not have… I’m very bad at this, I won’t lie to you).
> 
> Anyway… sorry for the mistakes you may (will) encounter. They’re not on purpose, I swear.
> 
> All of you out there fond of fluffy chick flick lovey dovey stuff, this new chapter might make you real happy. THINGS ARE FINALLY HAPPENING… LIKE… FOR REAL… Is that a spoiler? Meh… only a little.
> 
> Not saying it’s the end of the "adventures"… there’s still a slight problem of "where the hell are we and how can we go back home" that needs to be addressed.
> 
> That’s coming… That, and other fun "romantic" stuff. Because I promised fluff. That’s about as fluffy as I can go. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and commenting, I love to read you. You guys are MY Christmas gift! Each and everyone of of you. So thank you!
> 
> Please be safe, and I’ll see you again tomorrow!
> 
>  
> 
> .

“Merry Christmas, Dean,” Castiel murmured against Dean’s lips.

Castiel kissed Dean again, sliding the tip of his tongue along the seam of his lips. Dean let him in, spending the next ten minutes tasting his –  _ his  _ – angel’s mouth. Dean eventually moved back again, his voice wrecked when he went to speak in Castiel’s ear.

“We gotta stop…” he said, only half convinced that was what he wanted. “You’re the one that’s drunk tonight.”

“I don’t care.”

“I do…”

It didn’t matter what Dean said, Castiel still wrapped his arms around Dean’s neck and started sucking on his ear lobe. 

“Cas, jesus…”

“Attention, everyone!” Ellen said, her voice booming over the music. It was enough to startle the men into moving away from each other. “I know it’s not midnight yet, but if we wait until then to start the Secret Santa game, we’ll still be going at it when the sun comes up.”

While Ellen explained the rules, Dean didn’t pay much attention. Not that he could have, not with Castiel’s mouth now sucking a bruise where his neck and shoulder met. And okay, maybe they could be going upstairs to make out like horny teenagers instead of staying here and giving everyone a show.

“Upstairs?” he said against Castiel’s ear. The angel stopped sucking and licked the skin before answering.

“I want a gift.”

“You gotta bring one to get one, Cas.”

“I know, and I did. I also put one in for you.”

Dean made sure to catch Castiel’s gaze. “What did you do? You didn’t take anything from Baby’s trunk, did you?”

“Or course not,” Castiel said with a shrug. “What would these people need guns or amulets for anyway?”

It was Dean’s turn to shrug. Maybe Castiel had decided to give out what he’d bought at that witch’s store. Which probably wouldn’t be any better than guns or amulets.

Dean turned to face where Ellen stood. She’d already started calling out names and people were coming to either pick a new gift from under the tree or grab whatever someone else had picked. As they watched, Castiel wrapped his arms around Dean’s torso to pull him closer, settling the hunter between his parted legs.

It didn’t matter that Dean had been the one to initiate the kiss, he still wasn’t feeling totally comfortable. He couldn’t help glancing around the room, worried that people would be looking and judging. And even though he couldn’t find anybody paying attention to them, he still felt the embarrassment making his whole face warm.

“They don’t care,” Castiel said in his ear just before Dean could get out of his hold. And he probably would have if Ellen hadn’t called Castiel’s name to come and pick a gift. The angel got off his seat and walked over to the tree while Dean sat on the stool.

Castiel took a moment to decide, electing to pick something from under the tree; a long square box wrapped in silver paper with a gold bow on top. He walked back to join Dean, glaring at him when he found him sitting in his place. He placed the gift on the bar before entering Dean’s space, pushing himself between the hunter’s legs.

“You stole my place,” he said, his hands light over Dean’s hips. He then smirked, glancing upward. “Hey… mistletoe,” he said before kissing Dean again. This time, it was Dean who wrapped his arms around the angel’s neck to pull him closer.

“Hey, Dean! Let the boy breathe a bit and come get your gift!” he heard Ellen say after a while. He sighed against Castiel’s mouth and looked up to see the whole bar looking at them. Grinning. 

_ Shit! _

“Rufus took my gift,” he heard Castiel say. Dean looked to find that, indeed, his tall silver box had been replaced by a much smaller box – and a badly wrapped one at that.

“Today would be nice, Dean!” Ellen said again, prompting some folks to laugh.

He went to join her, ready to pick the first thing he’d see. Except he noticed Rufus holding onto the box Castiel had gotten earlier. He smirked as he went to steal the box back.

“That’s my boyfriend’s gift,” he said, making Rufus roll his eyes. While the older man picked something else from under the tree, Dean went back to Castiel.

“Got your gift back,” he said as he put it on the bar, making Castiel beam at him. “Let’s just hope nobody takes it again.”

“Thank you, Dean,” he said. He gave Dean a soft kiss on the cheek, making him even more flustered. This was getting far too romantic and sappy for the hunter’s taste, yet…

The Christmas game went on for close to three hours, people walking around to get food or booze as it went on. When Ellen announced that everyone could unwrap their gifts, Dean and Castiel were busy eating out of a single plate, feeding one another bits of turkey with their fingers only so they’d have an excuse to lick them.

“Remember, guys… if you don’t like the gifts you got, you can still try and exchange them.”

Minding the fact that he wasn’t wearing his usual jeans, Dean wiped his hands with a paper napkin rather than on his thighs. He took his gift and handed it to Castiel. “Want your gift back?”

“You don’t even know what’s in it.”

Dean shrugged. “Pretty sure it’s booze. I don’t care, you wanted it first.”

Castiel smirked. “Don’t you think that if it’s booze, like you say, you should be the one to keep it? And… I’m not sure you’re going to like what I got.”

“How did you get that, by the way?”

“Seeing as we were ‘busy’, Rufus took it upon himself to choose something for me when he took mine.” He sighed. “Little did he know that it was one of ours.”

Dean bit his lip not to laugh. “Kind of makes sense that this is yours. Looks like a toddler tried to wrap it. A toddler wearing mittens.”

Castiel harrumphed, moving away from him. “Keep mocking me and I just might let you have it.”

“I don’t care… what is it?”

“You won’t like it, I tell you.”

Dean shoved the silver box at Castiel’s chest and took the other gift. “I really don’t care,” he said as he started ripping the wrapping apart. Castiel didn’t unwrap his gift, biting at his lower lip as he waited for Dean to be done.

“Son of a bitch! Cas!” Dean exclaimed when he uncovered the purple box of Astroglide. “You can’t give this shit for Secret Santa,” he said through his teeth, sending worried gaze around them. “Don’t tell me the other gift was the box of condoms.”

“All right, I won’t tell you.”

No matter how aggravating Dean found the situation, he couldn’t help laughing. Castiel, badass motherfuckin’ angel of the Lord, could still be pretty naive and it delighted Dean a great deal. He put the box on the bar and pulled the angel in a strong hug. “You’re ridiculous,” he said against his ear with nothing but fondness in his tone.

He soon let him go. “Come on, Cas… open yours… can’t wait to drink whatever’s in there.”

Castiel opened his own gift in a more delicate manner, making sure to not rip the paper as he did.

“Come on, Cas,” Dean pressed him.

“My gift, my way,” Cas answered, not going any faster. And when Castiel finally opened the box to pull what was inside, Dean’s hope deflated.

“What the fuck is that?”

“Some sort of doll, I figure.”

Dean pursed his lips at the tall and skinny figurine. It wasn’t the kind of doll you’d buy at the store, but rather one some twisted grandma would have made after waking up from a nightmare. It would have been cursed that Dean wouldn’t have been surprised.

“You gotta get rid of that thing,” Dean said in a low voice. “It’s gonna kill us in our sleep.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Castiel countered. Not that he wanted to keep the doll, but to think it would try and kill them… “I do admit that I’d rather have something else. How about you? Will you try and exchange the lubricant?”

“Yeah,” he said in a low voice, not a hundred percent certain he wanted to. Castiel nodded and left him to go find a way to get rid of the doll. As for Dean, he rewrapped the purple box enough that people wouldn’t know what was in it. He had no intention of going around the room trying to give anyone lube.  _ Could always be useful _ , he thought, stupid butterflies fluttering low in his belly.

As he waited for Castiel to come back, Dean finished his beer, wondering if Ellen would let him get something stronger. He looked around, still seeing nobody behind the bar. He huffed, tempted to go and grab himself something better. What was she gonna do? Call the cops on him?

He didn’t have time to think of a way to do this when a warm pair of lips landed on his cheek. The smile the gesture had prompted died down when he turned to find it wasn’t Castiel who had kissed him. 

Dean’s whole body ran cold when he realized he’d never once met the woman standing next to him.

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	23. Priorities

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All right, here’s a warning for you. Maybe I’m being overly cautious since the rating is a "Mature" one, but I still want to warn you about what you’ll find in this chapter… yeah… SEX STUFF.
> 
> If you look at the tags, you may be able to guess what’s gonna be happening. Did I chicken out of a more explicit rating? Yes, and no. At this point in this story, I don’t feel like the boys (well… Dean, mainly) would be willing to go "all the way". And it is not an event we’ll be visiting. So… huh… sorry?
> 
> I still think it’s kinda hot, just not over the top. And there’s a bit of fluff woven into it all. So yeah… this here is as sexy as it’s gonna get. I still hope you’ll like it.
> 
> December 23… only two chapters left, my dears. The good news is that they’re written. An even better news is that tomorrow’s chapter will be published much earlier than usual since I have a party to prepare for. 
> 
> As always, thank you so very much for reading, I appreciate all of you, all your words, all your kudos… everything!!! Take care of yourself, be safe, and I’ll see you again tomorrow. (I could wish you Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, but I’ll wait do to this tomorrow because I’m like that!)
> 
>  
> 
> .

“Hello, Dean,” the woman said, to which Dean almost countered that it was Castiel’s line. Instead he took a minute to really look at her; her tall and skinny figure, the long dark blonde hair, the immense brown eyes. He really didn’t know her and quite frankly, she reminded him of that freak doll Castiel had gotten.

“What’s your name?” he asked, hitching for the gun he hadn’t thought of bringing down.

“Mielikki,” she said, her voice soft and sweet like warm caramel. Dean swallowed.

“What are you?”

She smiled and looked down at herself. “I’m not sure you’d like the answer.”

“Believe me, lady… I’ve seen a lot of shit in my days. Nothing you can say will shock me.”

Mielikki brushed her fingers over Dean’s cheek, making him shiver. “Castiel should know me. Ask him.”

Dean tried to grab her by the arm and pull her to go see Castiel. She smiled as she evaded his grip without much effort and walked away to disappear into the crowd. He tried to follow her, only to find himself running into Sam and Aaron.

“Hey! Did you see where that girl went? Wykikki?”

Both men squinted at him. “Who?”

“Hmm… Yelkikki? Blond, tall, creepy chick?”

Sam and Aaron shook their heads before resuming whatever conversation they’d been having. Dean plowed between them to go toward where she’d gone. He reached the buffet then turned around to go toward the back of the bar.

“I exchanged the doll,” Castiel said as he came to stand in Dean’s way, showing him the box of magnum condoms. “Donna said she wouldn’t know what to do with those, and she liked the doll.”

“Who’s Yelkikki?” Dean said, glad to have a reason to ignore what Castiel had just said. They had a weird lady to find.

“Who?”

Dean made sure to look at Castiel in the eye. “Yelkikki… just met some chick I’ve never seen before. Told me her name was Yelkikki or something and that you should know her.”

“Why didn’t you bring her to me?”

“I tried… she’s slippery as a fucking eel.”

“Where is she now?”

“Lost her. Do you know who she is? Or what?”

“I think I do, yes… Mielikki, is that it?”

Dean huffed. “S’what I said,” he countered, causing Castiel’s eyes to shine with mirth.

“If that’s who this is, we shouldn’t be in any danger,” Castiel said as he grabbed Dean’s hand. Dean let himself be lead back to their room.

“It’ll be easier to talk in here,” Castiel announced as he opened the door. He steered Dean to sit on the bed before doing the same, facing him. “Mielikki was a Finnish goddess, ruled over forests and hunters, and was a skillful healer. When God banished the pagan deities, they were each given their own realm to rule over.”

“I’ve met pagan gods before,” Dean said. “They weren’t in different realms, they were right there, with us… eating people,” he added through pursed lips.

“Being in a different realm doesn’t mean they can’t interact with ours. God was absent a long time, and now he’s busy with Amara. So of course the gods and goddesses will have been coming back to their former world.”

“But… we’re not in our world, are we? What’s that about?”

Castiel sighed, linking his fingers with Dean’s. “Mielikki was good, this I know for sure. I doubt that she’d have any intention of coming back permanently, just like I don’t believe she’s ever had a taste for human flesh.”

“What does she want with us, then?” Dean asked, his eyes on their joined hands.

“I wish I knew. We have to find her and only then will I be able to negotiate our release.”

“But she’s gone. She kissed me on the cheek and then she vanished or something.”

“If we’re in her realm, as I suspect we are, she’ll be able to do everything she pleases.”

“Like create people out of thin air?”

“Undoubtedly, yes.”

Dean looked up to lock his eyes with Castiel’s. Whatever he had been about to say died in his throat. His gaze dropped to the angel’s lips as he licked his own. Since neither of them moved, Dean realized that if they stayed here a minute longer, they’d never be going back down. Not until they’d tasted each other in every which way possible.

“We should go looking for Mielikki,” Castiel said under his breath, him too with his eyes fixated on Dean’s lips. “If we don’t go back downstairs now—”

“We’re never coming back down, I know,” Dean finished for him, untangling their fingers. “Let’s find that girl and then we can—” he waved a hand between them. “Then we can take care of this thing between us.”

“I agree,” Castiel said, still moving forward to try and kiss Dean who regretfully moved away. He got off the bed, going to stand halfway between the bed and the door.

“If we start, I won’t be able to stop, Cas.”

“Would that be so bad?”

“Can’t believe it’s me saying this, but I think there’s more important stuff do take care of right now.” And, well, he wasn’t one hundred percent sure about how far he’d be willing to go at this very moment.

Castiel nodded, looking down at his own crotch. “My penis doesn’t seem to agree.”

Equally aroused and annoyed, Dean scoffed as he rearranged himself in his pants. “Suck it up,” he said, groaning internally when he realized what else that could have meant. “Let’s go.”

Instead of following him, Castiel got up to unfasten his pants. Dean could only watch as the angel took his pants and underwear off, liberating a very hard and leaking cock. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t think clearly right now. I need to take care of this,” he announced as he sat back on the bed to lean against the headboard.

“Cas…” 

Nothing more could escape Dean’s lips as he watched Castiel start stroking himself, his own pants now starting to feel far too tight.

“It’ll only take a minute,” Castiel said, already breathing heavy and his feverish gaze leaving trails like fire all over Dean’s body. “Not to tell you what to do, but it looks like you too could use some—”

Dean didn’t let Castiel finish as he pulled his own pants and underwear down. He wrapped a hand around himself, not moving from where he stood, and kept his eyes on Castiel’s own working hand while he jerked himself off.

“Closer,” Castiel moaned, holding out his free hand out. “Need you.”

Dean shook his head and licked his lips, now regretting to have left the lube downstairs. He made sure to meet Castiel’s gaze as he licked his own palm. The angel whimpered, soon mimicking the gesture before putting his hand back on himself.

When Castiel planted his feet on the mattress to draw his knees up, Dean had to move so he wouldn’t miss a second of the spectacle before him. Never stopping the movement of his hand, he went to stand at the foot of the bed. Not joining Cas on it had to be one of the hardest thing he’d ever done.

Castiel came first, his hips jerking up as he milked himself for all he was worth. Dean didn’t last long after that, Castiel dipping a finger in his own come to taste it enough to send Dean over the edge. He threw his head back and moaned, biting at his lower lip hard enough to draw blood. He kept stroking himself, his other hand clasped over his left pec to squeeze the life of his nipple.

“Fuck… Cas…” he breathed when the angel’s wet mouth wrapped around the tip of his dick to suck the last of his release. He opened his eyes to see Castiel looking at him through dark lashes. And damn if that wasn’t the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. It didn’t matter how awesome the sight was, Dean still carded a hand in Cas’ hair to pull him off him.

“Enough…” he said through clenched teeth before bending to capture his mouth. The kiss was sloppy and wet, and Dean could have died with his own taste all over Castiel’s tongue.

“I feel much better,” Castiel said after letting him go and getting off the bed. He put his underwear and pants back on after wiping himself. “Let’s go find Mielikki, shall we?”

“Huh… yeah… good,” Dean mustered to say, his brain still not back a hundred percent. It took him a minute to get sharp enough to move. He too wiped himself clean – with the Christmas sweater, of all things – before pulling everything back up. He chuck the sweater in the corner of the room, deciding not to put anything over his t-shirt.

Only when they opened the door did Dean and Castiel notice that they couldn’t hear noise coming from downstairs anymore.

“You think the party’s over?” Dean asked, to which Castiel shrugged.

They made their way down slowly, the silence making feeling heavy over their heads. As they’d feared, the bar was now empty. The decorations were still up, but it certainly didn’t look as if there’d been any type of partying down here.

“I was wondering if you’d ever come down.”

Sitting at their usual table near the fireplace was Mielikki. She patted the table where a bottle of whiskey and three glass stood.

“Come sit with me… we have a whole lot to talk about.”

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	24. Mielikki

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE’RE ALMOST THERE!!! THE END IS NIGH!!!
> 
> You guys finally get to meet who’s behind all this. I’m only hoping it’ll make at least a bit of sense with the story. Interesting fact, the "entity" depicted here is a "real" one I found while researching deities. 
> 
> Of course, I’ve taken liberties with that they did or what they were, and I hope I won’t have offended anyone. 
> 
> This being said, HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE EVERYBODY! (Do we say that? Happy Christmas Eve? 'Cause Merry Christmas, that’s tomorrow…) And since not everyone’s a Christian, or not everyone cares, I’ll say HAPPY HOLIDAYS. I myself am all about Christmas only for the family time and the gifts… oh, and the food… I’m just that shallow.
> 
> Whatever you do tonight, please be safe, and I wish you all the love you want and deserve. (I’m a sappy little lady)
> 
> Thank you for reading and commenting, I will see you again tomorrow for the last chapter.
> 
>  
> 
> .

While Castiel went to comply, Dean planted his feet and grabbed Castiel by the arm so he’d stay put.

“What do you want from us?”

“I want nothing, Dean,” the goddess said as she unscrewed the bottle and poured a couple of fingers in each glass. “Come closer… I won’t hurt you, I swear.”

Dean huffed. “I’d like to see you try.”

Without a word, Castiel got out of Dean’s hold and to go and sit at the table. 

“Son of a bitch,” Dean said through gritted teeth before following, making a point of pulling his chair as far away as possible from Mielikki. “So… where’s everybody gone?”

“I released my friends of their enchantment, they’ve gone back to live their lives.”

“Most of them were dead people, I don’t see how—”

“You and I both know they weren’t really the people you knew, Dean. Or even people, for that matter,” Mielikki said, her voice just as sweet and warm as before. And no matter how hard he tried, Dean couldn’t find the strength to really hate her. And that pissed him off.

“What are you?” he managed to say, putting as much bite as he could in his voice.

Smiling, Mielikki slid a glass toward Dean. “Didn’t Castiel tell you already?”

“He did… I’d still rather hear it from you.”

“Very well. I’m a goddess… or I was, back when I lived in the mortal realm. Your God banished us all ages ago, gave us our own realms to rule over. Which was quite magnanimous of Him, I guess.”

“Why?”

She shrugged, her smile never faltering. “I don’t know, you’d have to ask Him that. I believe He felt He should be the only one humans revered.”

Castiel shook his head. “I don’t think that was exactly His intention, He probably—”

“I don’t mind, Castiel. His world, His rules,” Mielikki countered, peaceful. “I love my world… there are no wars here… no pain. Why would I want to go back there?”

Dean leaned forward, holding himself up with his forearms over his thighs. “Don’t give me that bullshit. For us to be here, it has to mean you plucked us out, which would mean you were there. Why did you do it?”

“Because if I hadn’t, you’d be dead, Dean.”

“You’re lying.”

Mielikki sighed, a bit of sadness tainting the sharpness in her eyes. “You remember that deer you almost ran over the day of the accident? That was me.”

“Because now you’re a deer?”

Taking the bottle to pour himself some more liquor, Castiel answered for her. “I believe that Mielikki still likes to cross over to our world at times. Am I right?”

Mielikki nodded.

“And when she does, she can present herself as a deer. Or whatever animal she chooses.”

“I favor the bears amongst all animals, but I found humans weren’t as fond of them as I am. I was almost killed on more than one occasion. And well… it’s called the mortal realm for a reason.”

“Bears are dangerous,” Dean replied. “They’re huge and yeah, if a bear comes strolling around town, it’s gonna get gunned down.”

“It’s a pity really,” Mielikki said, now sounding genuinely sad. “Bears are marvelous animals, so strong and brilliant. Peaceful too, whatever humans may think. Their only true flaw has to be gluttony.”

Dean scoffed and took the glass to swallow the whole content. He slammed the glass back on the table, hovering his hand over the rim when Castiel went to pour him some more. 

“Fine, whatever, bears are the shit. Doesn’t explain what we’re doing here or why we should be dead by now.”

“Changing the course of your vehicle to avoid hitting me is what caused you to crash.” For the first time, Mielikki didn’t look as confident, averting her eyes as she kept speaking. “This and the snow storm I created to conceal my crossing over.”

“Are you saying you can control the weather, too?”

“Dean…” Castiel tried, putting a hand over his knee. Apparently whatever had happened before was far removed from Dean’s mind because he batted the hand away.

“Don’t Dean me, Cas. That freak comes into our world in a damn deer costume and starts up a fucking snow storm. Why, huh?” He looked back at the goddess. “You deserved to be plowed by a damn car, lady.” He stood up, crossing his arms over his chest. “And now you’re gonna send us back. Neither of us is on the verge of dying, so…”

“Don’t you want to hear the rest of the story?”

“Nope.”

“Please… I’d love to tell you my story,” Mielikki said. “I haven’t talked to anyone in so long. Nobody that wasn’t an animal, anyway. Haven’t I been good to you? Weren’t you happy here?”

When Castiel too got to his feet to put a hand on Dean’s shoulder –  _ that _ shoulder – the hunter felt his resolve crumble. “I’d really love to hear what you have to say,” he said before sitting back down. Dean followed suit, making sure to curse at the angel in his own mind as he did. He was way too pissed to wanna hear a single word she had to say.

“Thank you,” the goddess said, smiling again. “As I was saying, the accident you had was caused by me. Which is why I felt it was my duty to go and make sure you wouldn’t perish. I couldn’t have lived with myself had I been the cause of your demise.”

_ Because gods care so much about humans _ , Dean thought, deciding against saying it out loud.

“When I got to you, you both were unconscious and hurt.” Mielikki went to touch Dean’s forehead, aborting the movement when he scowled at her and leaned back. “I had to heal you, only I couldn’t do this in your world. I had to bring you to mine.”

“I call bullshit,” Dean said. “Castiel’s an angel, he doesn’t get unconscious or hurt.”

_ Lies! _

The goddess shrugged. “I believe my powers, although diluted, may have tampered with his even at that time. The storm was a manifestation of them.”

“I did feel some sort of interference before the accident. This explains it, I guess.”

Dean glanced at Castiel, surprised to hear him agreeing with Mielikki’s words. He rolled his eyes and turn his attention back to the goddess.

“You could have called an ambulance, you know? It would have done the job.”

Castiel harrumphed. “Dean, where do you think a deity disguised as a deer could be hiding a phone?”

“She could have taken one of ours.”

“I didn’t think of that,” Mielikki admitted, a sheepish look on her face. “Your world… it’s too different from what it once was. I wouldn’t have known to do this anyway.”

Clearly, nothing the deity said could ever make Dean happy. “You don’t know about this stuff, yet you created all of this shit? You knew enough to have your robots tell us the phones weren’t working.”

“They weren’t robots… only animals I gave a different purpose for a little while. Everything you’ve seen came from your mind. I infused my world with your experiences, which is why everything felt so familiar to you.” She turned to Castiel. “I couldn’t get into yours, as you must imagine. Even with with my powers overwhelming yours, I could never have a real ascent over you.”

“I figured as much.”

“What about me?” Dean felt the need to ask. “How’s your ascent over me? That thing with Cas… that was you messing with me, wasn’t it?”

Mielikki’s musical laugh made Dean swallow hard; he already knew the answer to that.

“Of course not. Although I must admit that I did all I could to make you see what you had hidden from yourself. Your love for Castiel, it was buried so deep that I feared you’d never let it see the light of day. It’s too bright and pure to hide away.”

“Why would you care, huh? What’s in it for you?”

She laughed again. “Nothing. My only goal was to repay you. Weren’t you happy to see all those people you hold dear? Doesn’t it feel good to be able to love Castiel freely?”

Dean’s first instinct was to give the goddess a resounding ‘no!’. And he would have done it hadn’t he caught a glimpse of Castiel’s beautiful – and hopeful – face in the corner of his eye.

“Yeah,” he admitted after a while, his voice trembling. It was enough for Castiel to decide they had lost enough time.

“Can we go home now? How long have we been gone? And where is Dean’s car?”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t want to stay a little bit longer?” Mielikki asked, pleading. She sighed when both men shook their head. “I could enchant the animals again. I could create an even better world for you.”

Castiel got up to go and hug Mielikki. “It is a very nice offer, but we have real people back home waiting for us. Important people.”

The goddess returned the hug, letting out a sad sigh when Dean scowled at her attempt to hug him too. “Very well. You won’t have been gone for more than a couple of hours in all. And your car is safe and sound, the accident didn’t damage her much.”

“Much? What does that mean, much?”

Instead of answering, Mielikki smiled and raised her hand.

“It was an honor meeting the both of you. You go and keep saving the world,” she said before snapping her fingers.

 

_**TO BE CONTINUED…** _


	25. Back Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
> 
> AND MERRY EVERYTHING ELSE THAT’S NOT CHRISTMAS!!!
> 
> This is it, guys… the last chapter. The end of Dean and Castiel’s little "Christmas" Advent-ure. (hah! see what I did there?)
> 
> You may be happy to learn that this last chapter is almost twice as long as the other ones. Like, I could have decided to go for 26 chapters, but I didn’t want to. Instead, you get the biggest gift on Christmas Day… yay!
> 
> I really had fun writing this and having you all sharing your thoughts and feelings with me. It made the ride all that much sweeter.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and thank you for everything, basically. I hope you’ll like how I decided to end the thing… Dean’s an idiot sometimes but I was able to steer him onto the right path. And now he better stay on it or else I’ll have to go back and beat his ass silly!
> 
> I’ll let you read now… please don’t hesitate to say hi, I’d love to read you. In the meantime, be safe and be merry.
> 
> I hope to see you again in a near future! :-D
> 
> .

Castiel woke up first, sitting in the passenger seat of the Impala with Dean behind the wheel. He took a second to evaluate their situation, looking out the side window; there was close to no snow on the ground and they were on the side of a road, the car’s nose buried in thick bushes. He then looked down at himself to see his regular clothes rather than the ones he’d bought at Lisa’s. Same was true for Dean.

“Dean… Dean! Wake up!” he said, startling the hunter awake.

“What the hell? Huh? Where… what?”

Dean sent nervous gazes around him and only seemed to calm down when he saw the angel next to him. “Oh… hey, Cas,” he said, rubbing his eyes. A crooked smile appeared on his lips. “T’wasn’t a dream, was it?” he added after clearing his throat.

“Not a dream,” Castiel confirmed, grabbing at Dean’s hand. He felt the hunter stiffen, but at least he didn’t move away. He even looked up to meet Castiel’s gaze.

They stayed like that for another minute, unmoving and silent. Until Dean gave Cas a short nod and took his hand back to start up the car. When the Impala’s engine roared to life, Dean exhaled in relief and backed up to get back on the road.

It only took twenty minutes for them to reach the bunker. Once parked in the garage, Dean turned the engine off and walked out to go and assess the damages. Castiel stayed seated inside.

The angel turned around to find his bag still on the backseat. At least his purchases hadn’t stayed in Mielikki’s realm. There was no way Dean would have wanted to go back to the store now. He’d been going through the bag to make sure nothing was missing when Dean opened the passenger door.

“All your stuff’s there?” he asked.

“Indeed, nothing’s missing. But it appears everything we bought in the other realm stayed over there. I liked the sweater, I’ll miss it.”

Dean chuckled as he held a hand out to pull Castiel out of the car. He then glided his hand up Castiel’s spine to wrap it on the back of his neck. “We’ll find you another one,” he promised, caressing the side of Cas’ neck with his thumb. Castiel hummed and licked his lips, eager for Dean’s lips capture his.

“Gotta go see Sam,” Dean said instead, taking his hand back and leading the way out of the garage. He went first to the library where they weren’t surprised to see Sam busy on his computer with Jack doing the same on Dean’s. Dean’s heart skipped a beat when the both of them turned and smiled. Real smiles, filled with affection and mirth.

“You took your sweet time,” Sam commented. Dean didn’t respond, instead going to take his brother in his arms. “Dean? You okay?” And he yelped when Castiel jumped in, wrapping his arms around both brothers.

“Guys! What’s wrong with you?” Sam said, chuckling. “Did you get cursed with emotions at that witch store?”

Castiel let them go to go hug Jack while Dean just let his brother go. “You won’t believe the week we’ve had.”

“The week? I thought our week had been pretty tame myself.”

“What Dean means is that for us, it’s been five days since we’ve seen you.”

“No, it hasn’t. We saw you three hours ago.”

Castiel’s smile died down when he went to take Dean’s hand and he evaded him, putting his hands in his pockets. He glanced at him, a worried frown on his face, but Dean was obstinately looking forward, his jaw clenched.

“We had an accident and crossed over to Mielikki’s realm,” Castiel said, making Sam raise a single eyebrow.

“Who?”

“A Finnish goddess from eons ago, likes to take strolls in the mortal realm… she kinda saved our lives, or so she says,” Dean provided, leaving Castiel’s side to go sit next to Sam. “A real weirdo too. Created this village out of thin air, we were snowed in, and the inhabitants were all people we knew.”

“Ghosts?”

“Nah… just… illusions, I guess. Mom and dad were there, Ellen, Jo, Bobby, Charlie… everyone. Even people I haven’t thought of in years.”

Sam nodded, looking a bit impressed. “That must have been great, then. Kinda like a djinn dream?”

Castiel, who had taken a seat next to Jack, was the first to speak. “The people didn’t know Dean… or me, for that matter. They were like familiar strangers, if you will.”

“Huh…” Sam let out, his expression morphing into one of concern. “And… are you okay, Dean?”

“Of course! Why the hell shouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know… you said Dad was there, Mom too. Might not have been easy, is all I’m saying.”

Dean rolled his eyes and huffed. “No need to be all girly about it, Sam. They weren’t real, and I knew that.” His gaze shifted to Castiel, but only for half a second. “T’was a lot like we were alone, you know? With nobody around… not anyone we really knew, anyway.”

“What the hell did you do for five days? You waited it out? Did you even try to leave?”

Castiel got to his feet suddenly, making the chair scrape the wooden floor and startling Jack. “If you’ll please excuse me,” he said, looking stiff as he walked out.

While neither Sam nor Jack made anything of it, Dean couldn’t help but feel the heat blooming in his cheeks. He felt he should have followed Castiel, yet stayed put to answer his brother’s questions. “Of course we tried to leave. At first we thought we could walk back to the road… took us two tries to understand we might not even be in our world anymore.”

“Why didn’t you call us?” Jack asked.

“No bars,” Dean answered, which was kind of the truth anyway.

“How did you come back, then? Did Mielikki get fed up with Cas just like that thing in the Empty?”

He might have known Sam was only poking fun at Cas, it made Dean weirdly snappy. “She wanted to help us, Sam. When she revealed herself at the Christmas party, we asked her to let us go and she did.”

“A Christmas party? We’re still in the single digits of December.”

“What can I say… she wanted to make us feel welcome or something. Make us have a nice time.”

Dean’s gaze shifted to where the angel had disappeared. He sighed, very well knowing why Castiel had left so abruptly. Except, now faced with his real live brother and the nephilim, he didn’t feel as confident as he did. He looked back at Sam and Jack who both were looking at him with the same stupid concerned look.

“What?”

Sam shook his head, his mouth dangerously close to being a bitchy pout. “What really happened, Dean?”

“Told ya…”

“Yeah, and you just spent a whole minute looking at the doorway all gloomy. Are you okay? Is Cas okay?”

“Jeez, Sam! We’re good, all right?” Dean stood up. “Gonna go take a nap, it’s been a rough road trip.”

He didn’t wait for Sam to answer, nor did he even look at Jack, walking out to go to his room. He almost kept walking to go knock on Castiel’s door, but decided against it. He needed a minute to think. That plan was shot out of the water when he opened his own door to find the angel sitting on his bed. He huffed, but still walked in, slamming the door behind him.

“What’cha doin’ in here?” he asked. He knew he sounded like an asshole, he just couldn’t help himself.

“I was waiting for you,” Castiel said, prompting the memory of the last time he said those exact words. 

Dean licked his lips and swallowed, itching to go and take the angel in his arms. He shook his head, reality making this whole situation kind of weird now.

“I don’t think I can do this, Cas,” he said in a low voice. “Not in the real world.”

He kept his eyes downward and waited. It took so long for Castiel to answer that Dean had started wondering if he’d heard him.

“I see,” Castiel eventually said. Dean only looked up when Castiel walked up to him, handing out yet another badly wrapped gift. He had to fight the smile threatening to grace his lips. “Merry Christmas.”

“S’not really Christmas, Cas.”

“I don’t care.” And hell if Dean couldn’t have gotten lost in those eyes. His heart sped up at the thought that he did get lost in there before. More than once.

“It’s not lube, is it?”

Castiel didn’t answer, still holding up the gift for Dean to take. “Please. I got this for you.”

Rolling his eyes, Dean took the gift, his trembling hands making the unwrapping difficult. He almost choked when he revealed a small square box.  _ Better not be givin’ me a fucking ring _ , he thought, hating that his brain would even think to go there.

Except nothing could have prepared him for what lied inside the box.

“What’s this? A brooch?” He took the piece of silver jewelry in his hand to turn it around. It was a fucking brooch. “Brooches are for chicks, Cas.”

“You don’t like it.”

“Well… it’s not that… it’s just… it’s a brooch.” Dean looked up to see Castiel squinting at him.

“Yes, I think we’ve established that. So?”

“Men don’t wear brooches.”

“Why not?”

Apart from the ‘only chicks wear brooches’ argument he’d served him earlier, Dean couldn’t find a single reason why men didn’t wear them. He would have had to say that he himself didn’t like brooches and that would make the angel sad and—

“It’s merely a protection artifact,” Castiel supplied. “You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want to. Just pin it on the inside of your coat so nobody can see it.”

“Protection from what?”

Castiel shrugged. “Most types of spirits. It should be real helpful when you are dealing with hauntings.” He produced a second gift, just as badly wrapped. “I bought one for Sam as well. Gifts are a Christmas tradition, aren’t they?” He took a step forward, making sure to catch Dean’s gaze with his. “No need to worry, Dean. I won’t hold you liable for whatever happened before. I’m not here to aggravate you. You’re far too important to me.”

It was all it took for Dean’s embarrassed anger to start melting. The feelings he had been on his way to bury again were soaring back to the surface.

“Shit… I’m sorry, Cas,” he said as he wrapped his arms around Castiel. “I’m just so—”

“Confused? Embarrassed?”

“A little bit of both, maybe. It’s just… guys are not my usual thing, you know?”

“I’m not a guy.”

“You still got the same junk I do between your legs… kinda makes you a guy, don’t it?”

Instead of answering, Castiel landed a soft kiss on Dean’s stubbled jaw. “You didn’t seem to mind my ‘junk’ before. You even seemed quite taken with it, to be honest.”

There was a slight tremor in Dean’s voice when he answered. “I was quite taken with you. For some reason, I really don’t mind about what’s in your pants.” He chuckled, hiding his face in the crook of Castiel’s neck. “Okay, I kinda mind. Watching you touch yourself was hot as fuck!”

“I loved you looking at me. Looking at you.”

They held each other for a while, slowly going back to that level of intimacy they’d shared before. 

“You can never leave again, you know that, right?” Dean said after leaning back, cupping the angel’s face in both hands. “I can’t give you—can’t give you this if you’re gonna go awol again.”

“We sometimes need to—”

“This is non negotiable, Cas. I died and couldn’t have cared less when you were gone before. I’m only here because Billy said it wasn’t my time yet. If you leave me again, there’s no way—”

Dean had started trembling and Castiel lips on him were all it took to shut him up. They kissed for a while, both hungry and tender. Castiel only moved back when Dean’s tremors had eased.

“I promise to do everything in my power not to abandon you ever again.”

And although he knew neither Castiel nor himself could really promise to stay forever, not with that life they led, Dean still chose to believe his angel.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he said, getting out of Castiel’s hold. The sense of loss was deep enough for him to take Castiel’s hand and smile. “Just one thing though… if you don’t mind, I’d rather we keep the PDA to a minimum, all right?”

“The PDA?”

Dean lift their joined hands and kissed Castiel’s fingers. He then turned to kiss Castiel soundy on the mouth. “This stuff… you know, being all handsy in public. PDA stands for Public Display of Affection.”

“Is the bunker a public setting?”

Dean chuckled. “Pretty sure that if you ask Sam, he’ll say that it is, yeah. I say we try not to scar him for life and all should be fine.”

“How could we even be scarring him for life?”

This time, Dean’s taking possession of Castiel’s mouth was noisy and wet. They moaned in each other’s mouth before Dean let him go.

“Stuff like this should do the trick… come on, let’s go make out in my brother’s face.”

Castiel smiled, following Dean out of the room. 

“I thought you’d never ask.”

 

_**THE END** _

 

***** * * * * * * * * *** **

 

_ _

 

_**Painting:** "Un dimanche après-midi aux Éboulements" (A Sunday afternoon at the Éboulements) by Paul Tex Lecor. _

 

I know, I’ve used this title card on Chapter One. But here it is again because I like it.  
Mostly, I feel the need to remind you of that artist I loved… I still do, but he passed last September.   
You can click [here](http://www.texlecor.com/) to go to the Mr. Paul Tex Lecor’s webpage (it’s in French so if you want to see other paintings (some are NSFW), click [here](http://multi-art.net/protected/Lecor/page1.html)).  
Mostly, when I woke up this morning, there was even more snow on the ground. I live in that painting! :D 


End file.
